Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 14a

סנהדרין י״ד ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 14a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 14a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

סמיכה (who may give it, where, and to whom, with stories about it), and the number of judges for עריפת עגלה.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing רב's statement that without רבי יהודה בן בבא, the laws of קנסות would have disappeared. Rome had outlawed סמיכה. רבי יהודה בן בבא ordained five or six great students in a deserted spot, and he was killed for it. The גמרא rejects the idea that this proves one sage alone can ordain, because others may have been with him. It also explains that רבי מאיר was ordained twice, because the people had not accepted רבי עקיבא's סמיכה. Next, רבי יהושע בן לוי teaches that there is no סמיכה outside ארץ ישראל: the act of ordaining, and even the candidate, must be in the Land. Then come stories: why the house of עלי is not ordained, how רבי זירא hid from סמיכה, and the songs sung to honor great חכמים. Finally the גמרא returns to the משנה's rule on עריפת עגלה, where רבי יהודה requires five judges and רבי שמעון three. It explains how each reads the פסוק, and the ברייתא about the plural verbs continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בָּטְלוּ דִּינֵי קְנָסוֹת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל,

the laws of fines would have ceased from the Jewish people,

שֶׁפַּעַם אַחַת גָּזְרָה מַלְכוּת הָרְשָׁעָה

because once the wicked kingdom decreed

שְׁמָד עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל –

religious persecution against the Jewish people:

שֶׁכׇּל הַסּוֹמֵךְ יֵהָרֵג,

that anyone who ordains will be killed,

The steps (34)

  1. StatementRome outlaws סמיכה
  2. Proofרבי יהודה בן בבא ordains the elders alone
  3. Statementרבי יהודה בן בבא dies as a martyr
  4. RejectionMaybe others ordained together with him
  5. ChallengeWasn't רבי מאיר ordained by רבי עקיבא?
  6. ResolutionOrdained twice: the second time was accepted
  7. StatementNo ordination outside the Land of Israel
  8. QuestionWhat does 'no ordination' mean?
  9. ChallengeFirst guess rejected: a Sanhedrin works outside the Land too
  10. ResolutionReal meaning: we do not ordain outside the Land
  11. QuestionWhat if only the candidate is outside the Land?
  12. ProofProof: those not present in the Land were not ordained
  13. Statementרבי יוחנן's failed attempts to ordain רבי חנינא and רבי הושעיא
  14. ProofThe source that the house of Eli is not ordained
  15. ChallengeElder cannot mean an old man
  16. ResolutionElder means ordination
  17. Statementרבי זירא hides to avoid ordination
  18. Statementרבי זירא changes his mind
  19. StatementThe song sung at רבי זירא's ordination
  20. StatementThe song at the ordination of רבי אמי and רבי אסי
  21. StatementThe greeting sung to רבי אבהו
  22. StatementThe heifer case and רבי יהודה's count of five
  23. Statementרבי שמעון's count of three
  24. QuestionWhat does רבי שמעון do with 'your judges'?
  25. Response'Your judges' means the special judges
  26. QuestionWhere does רבי יהודה learn this?
  27. ResponseFrom 'your elders' instead of 'elders'
  28. ResponseWhy רבי שמעון needs both words
  29. Responseרבי יהודה learns it from a גזירה שוה
  30. ChallengeThen learn everything from there
  31. ResolutionThe extra ו is for the count
  32. Conclusionרבי שמעון does not learn from the ו
  33. ChallengeShouldn't the other plural verbs add judges too?
  34. ResolutionThose verbs are needed for other laws