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Makkos 12b

מכות י״ב ע״ב

Makkot 12b

Learn Makkos 12b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 12b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How a tree on the border of an עיר מקלט is treated, a killer or לוי who kills inside a city of refuge, and honoring a killer in exile

Overview

The amud opens with רבי יהודה, who says a cave goes by its entrance and a tree goes by its boughs. The גמרא pushes back: he may have meant this only as a stringency for מעשר שני. For ערי מקלט, following the boughs could let the גואל הדם kill a man standing inside the city. רבא answers that everyone agrees a man at the trunk inside is safe, and a man in boughs outside who can be shot is not. The real argument is whether the trunk may be climbed as a step to reach him. רב אשי answers differently: 'follow the boughs' means 'follow the boughs too.' A new משנה teaches that a killer who kills again inside his city of refuge moves to another neighborhood, and a לוי moves to another city. A ברייתא shows that exile already existed in the desert, to the camp of the לויים. The amud ends with a משנה: a killer offered honor must first say 'I am a killer,' and if they still insist, he may accept.

Opening lines

רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר:

Rabbi Yehuda says:

בִּמְעָרָה – הַלֵּךְ אַחַר פִּתְחָהּ,

With regard to a cave, follow its entrance;

בְּאִילָן – הַלֵּךְ אַחַר נוֹפוֹ.

with regard to a tree, follow its boughs.

אֵימוֹר דְּשָׁמְעַתְּ לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה

Say that you heard Rabbi Yehuda say this

The steps (12)

  1. Proofרבי יהודה: a tree follows its boughs
  2. Rejectionרבי יהודה may have meant only a stringency for tithes
  3. ChallengeFor cities of refuge, following the boughs would let him be killed inside
  4. Resolutionרבא: two cases where everyone agrees
  5. ResolutionThe real dispute: can the trunk be used as a step to reach the boughs?
  6. Resolutionרב אשי: 'follow the boughs' means 'follow the boughs too'
  7. StatementA killer who kills again inside the city of refuge, and a לוי who kills
  8. StatementA ברייתא: exile already existed in the desert
  9. QuestionWhere did they go in the desert? The Levite camp
  10. StatementA לוי who kills is exiled from district to district
  11. ProofThe פסוק that a killer's own city of refuge still protects him
  12. StatementA killer whom the city wants to honor