Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 16, scan section 1

Cibrarv of trhc ti^colo^ical ^eminarjo PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY John Stuart Conning', D.D, BM t)UU .Kb lyia V.ilD-lb Talmud. New edition of the Babylonian Talmud NEW EDITION f^ OF THK 'yn - BABYLONIAN TALMUD ©rfgfnal Uejt, ]EMte&, Corrected, formulated, an^ UratidlateD into JEnglisb BY MICHAEL L. RODKINSON SECTION JURISPRUDENCE (DAMAGES) TRACT SANHEDRIN Volumes VIL and VIH. (XV. and XVL) Boston THE TALMUD SOCIETY 1918 EXPLANATORY REMARKS. In our translation we adopted these principles: I. Tenan of the original — We have learned in a Mishna; 7b«JO— We have learned in a Boraitha; lUmar — It was taught. a. Questions are indicated by the interrogation point, and are immediately followed by the answers, without being so marked. 3. When in the original there occur two statements separated by the phrase, Lishna achrena or Walbayith Aema ox Ikha (f'<2wr/ (literally, "otherwise interpreted"), we translate only the second. 4. As the pages of the original are indicated in our new Hebrew edition, it is not deemed necessary to mark them in the English edition, this being only a translation from the latter. 5. Words or passages enclosed in round parentheses ( ) denote the explanation rendered by Rashi to the foregoing sentence or word. .Square parentheses [ ] contain commentaries by authorities of the last period of construction of the Gemara. CorTBICKT, igo3, BV IIICHAF.I, L. ROUKINSON. CorVRIGIlT 1916, BY NEW TALMUD PIJIU.I.sniNG SOCIETY TO HIM WHO RANKS AMONG THE FIRST PHILANTHROPISTS OF OUR CO-RELIGIONISTS ABRAHAM ABRAHAM, Esq. IN RECOGNITION OF HIS GENEROUS DEEDS TOWARD PROMOTING LITERATURE IN GENERAL AND JUDAISM IN PARTICULAR, THIS BOOK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE TRANSLATOR MICHAEL L. RODKINSON New York IN THE Month of Elul, 5662 (September i8th, 1902) A WORD TO THE READER. Many books have been written by the scientists of the last century, and many lengthy articles have appeared in the vari- ous periodicals, concerning the Jewish high court, and this tract, which, if extracts were given, would make an entire bulky volume in itself. However, we deem it best to give the reader the information where these are to be found. The time dur- ing which the Sanhedrin were established is the main topic of their discussions. Zunz, for instance, gives the time from King Simeon of the Maccabees. Jost states that it was from the period of Hyrcan. And an anonymous writer in " Israel- itische Annalen," Vol. I., pp. 108-134, maintains that they were established at an exceedingly earlier date, and that the Greek name " Sanhedrin " was changed during the time of the second Temple. At all events, Schiirer, in his " Jiidische Geschichte," wrote a lengthy article on this subject, in Vol H., from p. 188 to 240 (where there is to be found a bibliography of the subject), concluding with his opinion that the high court began at an ear- lier time. Z. Frankel, too, in his article, " Der gerichtliche Be- weis," Berlin, 1848, claims that the estabHshment of the jury in the entire civilized world was taken from the Sanhedrin. All this was written in Germany. An English book by Rabbi Men- delsohn also treats upon this topic. We, too, will have some- thing to say concerning this in our forthcoming " History of the Talmud." We are inclined, in many respects, however, to accept the opinion of Reifmann, given in his Hebrew book, " Sanhedrin," Warsaw, 1888. He says that courts were even established in the days of Noah, the judges of which were Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Amram, continuing until Moses. He, in turn, established a court of seventy judges, and from that time the Supreme High Court was of that number (seventy- one, including Moses), and thereafter supreme courts of twenty-three, and courts of three, were established at all times, and wherever the Jews resided; the sages of the second Temple naming these courts " great " and " small " Sanhedrin. Reif- mann's reasons are gathered from the post-biblical literature, and are based upon the Bible. According to him, the three judges had to decide civil cases only, the twenty-three, crimi- vi A WORD TO THE READER. nals and capital punishments, and the seventy-one were a political body, who were to decide also the great events; as, for instance, an entire tribe, or the princes and heads of tribes. We, however, would say that the court of three had also to decide criminal cases to which capital punishment did not apply. So it seems to us, from this tract, p. 212 of the Talmud, that a stubborn and rebellious son was punished with stripes by a court of three, before being finally sentenced to death by the court of twenty-three. Reifmann also quotes from " Midrash Aggada," that be- fore prophesying a prophet was obliged to get permission from the Sanhedrin, who previously tried him whether he was a true prophet or not We may here add that this contradicts the Talmud, for it says that to recognize a true prophet was by demanding a sign, p. 260, and if the prophet would have been obliged to get the permission of the Sanhedrin, this would certainly be mentioned in the Talmud instead. This is as much as we have to say in regard to the time and name, and that the Sanhedrin ceased about forty years previous to the destruction of the Temple. At the same time we would call the attention of the readers to the fact that this tract distinguishes itself from all others in Halakha as well as in Haggada. Aside from the many strange explanations of the verses of Scripture, which are not used in other extracts, it says plainly that there are numerous laws written in the Pen- tateuch which have never occurred, and never will occur, but that they were written merely for study. The Haggada also distinguishes in taking the power to judge upon the Bible per- sonages if they are to have a share in the world to come, and also in criticism of their acts, even of the most holy of them. This is self-evident that the later commentaries, and especially the cabbalists. interpreted the Haggada after their ways. We, however, have translated it almost literally, with an effort to make it in some respects intelligible to the general reader, and have also added footnotes, where wc deemed it necessary. And we may say that the real student will find much pleasure if he will devote his special attention to this tract. For this purpose we have made from this celebrated tract a double volume, as we deem it will please the readers and the Students, and will also equalize the size of the volumes. M. L. R. September 16, 1902. CONTENTS. A Word to the Reader . v Synopsis of Subjects xi CHAPTER I. Rules and Regulations concerning the Appointment op Judges in Civil and Criminal Cases. Which are con- sidered Civil and which Criminal. How many are needed