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Makkos 2b

מכות ב׳ ע״ב

Makkot 2b

Learn Makkos 2b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Exceptions to 'כאשר זמם' for עדים זוממין: גלות, מלקות, כופר, being sold as an עבד עברי, and paying on one's own admission

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the בן גרושה discussion. A קל וחומר is rejected, and the גמרא goes back to its first answer from the פסוק. Next, ריש לקיש learns from the word 'הוא' that עדים זוממין who said someone owes גלות are not exiled. רבי יוחנן's קל וחומר fails, because גלות is a כפרה. עולא then finds a hint in the Torah that עדים זוממין can get מלקות: 'והצדיקו את הצדיק והרשיעו את הרשע'. That hint is needed because 'לא תענה' has no action, so it cannot bring lashes. A ברייתא lists four punishments that עדים זוממין do not receive, and the גמרא explains them one by one. On כופר, רב חסדא and רב פפא argue about whether כופר is atonement or how it is measured. On being sold as an עבד עברי, רבא uses 'בגנבתו' to reject both versions of רב המנונא's limit. Finally, רבי עקיבא exempts witnesses who admit they were caught, because their payment is a קנס. רבה and רב נחמן each prove it is a קנס.

Opening lines

וּמָה הַסּוֹקֵל אֵינוֹ נִסְקָל,

If one who 'stoned' is not stoned,

הַבָּא לִסְקוֹל וְלֹא סָקַל –

then one who came to stone but did not stone —

אֵינוֹ דִּין שֶׁלֹּא יִסָּקֵל?

isn't it logical that he should not be stoned?

אֶלָּא מְחַוַּורְתָּא

Rather, it is clear

The steps (35)

  1. ChallengeThe earlier logic would mean עדים זוממין are never stoned
  2. ConclusionBack to the original answer from the verse
  3. QuestionAsking for the source of the exile case
  4. Responseריש לקיש: 'He' flees, not the witnesses
  5. Responseרבי יוחנן: a logical argument instead
  6. RejectionThe logic actually points the other way
  7. ConclusionSettling on ריש לקיש's verse
  8. Questionעולא asks where the Torah hints at conspiring witnesses
  9. ChallengeThere is already a clear verse for conspiring witnesses
  10. ResolutionReframing: the hint is for lashing conspiring witnesses
  11. ResponseThe verse about vindicating the righteous
  12. ChallengeWhy would vindicating one side mean lashes for the other?
  13. ResolutionThe verse describes false witnesses exposed by other witnesses
  14. ChallengeWhy not learn lashes from 'You shall not bear false witness'?
  15. ResolutionA prohibition without an action does not bring lashes
  16. StatementFour cases where conspiring witnesses are not punished as they plotted
  17. Statementרבי עקיבא: they do not pay based on their own admission
  18. StatementTwo items in the ברייתא were already explained
  19. StatementWhy the witnesses do not pay כופר
  20. QuestionWhich תנא holds that כופר is atonement?
  21. Responseרב חסדא: it is רבי ישמעאל בנו של רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה
  22. ProofHow the ברייתא shows their real disagreement
  23. Rejectionרב פפא: everyone agrees כופר is atonement
  24. QuestionWhat is the reason of the רבנן?
  25. ResponseThe word השתה links כופר to the miscarriage case
  26. ResponseThe Source for רבי ישמעאל's View
  27. ResponseHow the רבנן Handle 'His Soul'
  28. Statementרב המנונא Limits the No-Slavery Rule
  29. Challengeרבא: The Witnesses Can Answer Back
  30. Resolutionרב המנונא's Revised Version
  31. Rejectionרבא: Sold for Theft, Not for Scheming
  32. QuestionWhy Does רבי עקיבא Exempt Self-Admission?
  33. ResponseBecause It Is a Fine
  34. Proofרבה: They Did Nothing, Yet Are Punished
  35. Proofרב נחמן: No Money Was Lost, Yet They Pay