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Sanhedrin 18b

סנהדרין י״ח ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 18b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Laws of the כהן גדול: exile, being judged, testifying, the courts he may not sit on, and חליצה.

Overview

This amud keeps working through the laws of the כהן גדול. First a פסוק shows that a כהן גדול who kills by accident goes to an עיר מקלט, even though he can never leave. If he sins, he is judged like a הדיוט, and he needs a court of seventy-one only for a truly 'great matter'. Next the גמרא asks how he can be required to testify, since an honored person may skip a מצוה that is beneath his dignity. After several tries, it explains that he testifies in front of the king, who leaves before the judges deliberate. The גמרא then explains why a king may not sit on the סנהדרין, and why neither a king nor a כהן גדול may sit on the court that adds a month to the year. רב פפא learns from this that the weather follows the months. A story about three cattle herders seems to show the opposite, but the גמרא answers that the חכמים relied on their own calculations. Finally, the גמרא turns to the משנה's rule that a כהן גדול does חליצה and never יבום, and begins a question that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

הַהוֹרֵג כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל,

One who kills a High Priest,

אוֹ כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל שֶׁהָרַג אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ –

or a High Priest who killed a person –

אֵינוֹ יוֹצֵא מִשָּׁם לְעוֹלָם;

never leaves there;

אֵימָא לָא לִיגְלֵי –

so I might say he is not exiled at all –

The steps (27)

  1. ResolutionWhy the ברייתא had to say a כהן גדול is exiled
  2. ChallengeMaybe he really is not exiled
  3. ResolutionThe word 'every' includes the כהן גדול
  4. ChallengeMust a כהן גדול sin?
  5. ResolutionIt means: if he sins, he is like a הדיוט
  6. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
  7. ResolutionWe might have thought every case needs seventy-one judges
  8. ChallengeMaybe all his cases do need seventy-one
  9. ResolutionThe פסוק says 'the great matter', not 'the matters of a great person'
  10. StatementThe משנה: a כהן גדול testifies and is testified about
  11. ChallengeChallenge: an honored person may ignore a מצוה beneath his dignity
  12. Resolutionרב יוסף: he testifies only for the king
  13. ChallengeBut a king is not judged or testified about
  14. Resolutionרבי זירא: he testifies for a king's son
  15. ChallengeBut a king's son is an ordinary person
  16. ResolutionRather: he testifies in front of the king
  17. ChallengeBut a king may not sit on the סנהדרין
  18. ResolutionThe king comes only to hear the testimony, then leaves
  19. StatementQuoting the ברייתא about the king and the כהן גדול
  20. ProofThe source for keeping a king off the סנהדרין
  21. StatementWhy the king and the כהן גדול are kept off עיבור שנה
  22. Statementרב פפא: the year follows the months
  23. ChallengeChallenge from the three cattle herders
  24. ProofThe herders' signs of אדר and the added month
  25. RejectionThe חכמים relied on their own calculations, not on the herders
  26. StatementThe משנה forbids יבום for the כהן גדול in every case
  27. ChallengeWhy a widow from full marriage is clearly forbidden