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Sanhedrin 13b

סנהדרין י״ג ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 13b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Adding a month to the year (עיבור שנה) according to אחרים, and how many judges are needed for סמיכת זקנים and for giving סמיכה to a חכם.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a discussion of עיבור שנה, adding a month to the year when the seasons fall behind. The גמרא explains that two earlier opinions differ over whether the day of the תקופה begins the new season or ends the old one. It then turns to אחרים, who add a month even when only fourteen days are missing. Two answers are given: רב שמואל בר רב יצחק says they are talking about ניסן and פסח, and רבינא says they mean סוכות, including the first יום טוב. The גמרא then moves to סמיכת זקנים, the elders leaning their hands on the communal bull. רבי יהודה counts five judges from the פסוק and רבי שמעון counts three, and the dispute rests on the word 'וסמכו' and a גזירה שוה from עולה. A ברייתא adds that giving סמיכה to a חכם also needs three. אביי finds no clear source for that number. רב אשי explains that this סמיכה is done by giving the title 'רבי' and the power to judge דיני קנסות. The amud ends with a challenge from the story of רבי יהודה בן בבא, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אִיכָּא בֵּינַיְיהוּ

There is a difference between them:

יוֹם תְּקוּפָה מַתְחִיל וְיוֹם תְּקוּפָה גּוֹמֵר.

whether the day of the season-change begins the season, or the day of the season-change ends it.

וְלָא מְסַיְּימִי.

But they are not identified.

אֲחֵרִים אוֹמְרִים: מִיעוּטוֹ,

אחרים say: even for a minority of it.

The steps (32)

  1. ResponseThe difference: does the season-change day begin or end a season?
  2. Statementאחרים: even fourteen days missing is enough
  3. ChallengeWhy should fourteen days matter?
  4. Resolutionאחרים are talking about ניסן
  5. ChallengeWhy not just add a day to אדר?
  6. ResolutionThe תנא was counting downward
  7. Resolutionרבינא: אחרים are talking about תשרי and סוכות
  8. ChallengeBut the פסוק calls it 'חג האסיף'
  9. ResolutionIt means the festival that comes in gathering season
  10. StatementWho are the elders? Not just anyone in the marketplace
  11. StatementNot the smaller courts, but the special ones of the congregation
  12. StatementHow many judges? רבי יהודה says five
  13. Statementרבי שמעון says three
  14. ChallengeWhy doesn't רבי שמעון count 'וסמכו'?
  15. Resolution'וסמכו' is needed for the act itself
  16. Rejectionרבי יהודה: the פסוק could have taught the act without 'וסמכו'
  17. Resolutionרבי שמעון: without 'וסמכו' we might think 'next to' the head
  18. Resolutionרבי יהודה learns 'directly on the head' from עולה
  19. Conclusionרבי שמעון does not accept the גזירה שוה
  20. StatementA ברייתא: both kinds of laying hands need three
  21. QuestionWhat are the two kinds of סמיכה?
  22. Responseרבי יוחנן: it means giving סמיכה to a חכם
  23. Questionאביי asks: where do we learn that giving סמיכה needs three?
  24. Challengeמשה gave סמיכה alone, so one should be enough
  25. ResolutionMaybe משה counts as seventy-one
  26. RejectionThen we would need seventy-one
  27. ConclusionThe question stays unanswered
  28. QuestionIs סמיכה really done with the hands?
  29. Responseסמיכה is done by giving a title and authority
  30. ChallengeCan't one person give סמיכה? The praise of רבי יהודה בן בבא
  31. ChallengeWhy would the laws be forgotten? Just learn them
  32. ResolutionThe גמרא starts to explain what רב meant