Gemara Clarity

Makkos 22b

מכות כ״ב ע״ב

Makkot 22b

Learn Makkos 22b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 22b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The number of lashes, the rules of assessing a person's strength (אומד), and the procedure of מלקות

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a משנה about re-assessing how many lashes a person can survive. The גמרא explains that the חכמים give thirty-nine lashes because the פסוק says 'a number close to forty.' רבא learns from this that a great scholar deserves the same honor people give a ספר תורה. רבי יצחק brings a פסוק from זכריה as the source for רבי יהודה's full forty, and the רבנן explain that it is about schoolchildren. The גמרא then reads the משנה closely to learn that a new assessment exempts him only after real lashes. רב ששת settles a clash with a ברייתא by splitting a same-day assessment from a later-day one. A new משנה covers one sin with two לאוין, and רב ששת explains when one assessment can cover both, forty-one or forty-two. The last משנה describes how מלקות is given: the post, the strap, the פסוקים read aloud, and when the lashes stop early.

Opening lines

וְאָמְדוּ שֶׁאֵין יָכוֹל לְקַבֵּל אַרְבָּעִים – פָּטוּר.

And then they assessed that he cannot receive forty, he is exempt.

אֲמָדוּהוּ לְקַבֵּל שְׁמוֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה,

If they assessed him as able to receive eighteen,

וּמִשֶּׁלָּקָה אָמְדוּ

and once he was flogged, they assessed

שֶׁיָּכוֹל הוּא לְקַבֵּל אַרְבָּעִים – פָּטוּר.

that he is able to receive forty, he is exempt.

The steps (18)

  1. StatementThe end of the משנה: re-assessing the person in the middle of lashes
  2. QuestionWhy only thirty-nine lashes?
  3. ResponseReading the word order of the verse: a count that comes close to forty
  4. Statementרבא: people should stand for a great Torah scholar
  5. Proofרבי יצחק's source for רבי יהודה's full forty
  6. QuestionHow do the Rabbis read that verse?
  7. ResponseThe verse is about schoolchildren
  8. StatementInference from the משנה: only if he was actually flogged
  9. ChallengeA ברייתא seems to exempt him without any lashes
  10. ResolutionToday's assessment versus a later day's assessment
  11. StatementNew משנה: one sin with two prohibitions
  12. ChallengeA ברייתא says one assessment cannot cover two prohibitions
  13. ResolutionForty-one versus forty-two
  14. StatementHow the person is tied and the strap is made
  15. StatementWhere he is struck and how he is positioned
  16. StatementThe strike and the verses read aloud
  17. StatementDeath during lashes versus death from an extra lash
  18. StatementSoiling oneself during the lashes ends the punishment