Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 26a

סנהדרין כ״ו ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 26a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 26a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The end of the story about רבי זירא's father, an honest tax collector, and then the גמרא's explanation of רבי שמעון's statement in the משנה about people who deal in שביעית produce.

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a story about רבי זירא's father, an honest tax collector who protected his town and even returned money he did not need. The גמרא then explains רבי שמעון's remark in the משנה about people who deal in שביעית produce. רב יהודה's explanation is challenged by בני רחבה, so the גמרא reverses it: at first gatherers and merchants were both disqualified, but once heavy ארנונא taxes pressed people, gatherers became kosher witnesses while merchants stayed פסול. Next comes a story: ריש לקיש travels with two חכמים going to make a leap year. Along the way he complains about כהנים plowing and pruning in שביעית. The גמרא explains why he assumed they were כהנים, proving from a teaching about תרומה that כהנים were suspected about שביעית. ריש לקיש then tells רבי יוחנן that judges suspected about שביעית are a 'group of the wicked' that does not count, and רבי יוחנן agrees. Finally, the גמרא traces the idea of a wicked group that does not count to the story of שבנא, who betrayed חזקיה during סנחריב's siege and was punished measure for measure.

Opening lines

וּמִיגַּנְזוּ כּוּלֵּי עָלְמָא.

And everyone would hide.

כִּי אָתֵי, אֲמַר לֵיהּ:

When he would come, he would say to him:

מִמַּאן נִבְעֵי?

From whom shall I request [taxes]?

כִּי נִיחָא נַפְשֵׁיהּ, אֲמַר לְהוּ:

When he was dying, he said to them:

The steps (38)

  1. StatementEveryone hides when the official comes
  2. ConclusionHe returns money on his deathbed
  3. StatementQuoting רבי שמעון from the משנה
  4. QuestionWhat does רבי שמעון mean?
  5. Responseרב יהודה explains: gatherers are kosher, merchants are not
  6. ResponseLater, both gatherers and merchants became disqualified
  7. ChallengeThe words of the משנה don't fit this explanation
  8. ResolutionA new explanation: taxes made the rule more lenient
  9. StatementTwo rabbis go to make a leap year, and ריש לקיש joins them
  10. Challengeריש לקיש sees a man plowing
  11. ResolutionHe may be a hired worker
  12. Challengeריש לקיש sees a man pruning vines
  13. ResolutionHe may need the branches for a press basket
  14. RejectionThe heart knows the real reason
  15. QuestionWhich story came first?
  16. RejectionThe plowing story cannot be first
  17. ResponseThe pruning story came first
  18. QuestionWhy call him a כהן?
  19. Responseכהנים were suspected about שביעית
  20. ProofA teaching about תרומה mixed into שביעית produce
  21. ChallengeWhy not sell the mixture to a כהן?
  22. ResolutionThis shows כהנים were suspected about שביעית
  23. StatementThe חכמים escape ריש לקיש by climbing onto a roof
  24. Challengeריש לקיש questions whether suspected people may add a month to the year
  25. Resolutionריש לקיש suggests the case is like the three cattle herders
  26. Rejectionריש לקיש rejects the comparison: a group of wicked people does not count
  27. Conclusionרבי יוחנן admits the problem is serious
  28. ChallengeThe two חכמים complain to רבי יוחנן
  29. Resolutionרבי יוחנן: even a harsher label would have been hard to answer
  30. QuestionWhere does the idea of a 'conspiracy of the wicked' come from?
  31. Responseשבנא's larger following and his secret surrender note
  32. ProofThe נביא tells חזקיה that a wicked majority does not count
  33. Statementשבנא carves a grave among the royal tombs and is rebuked
  34. StatementA man's wandering is harder than a woman's
  35. Statementשבנא was struck with צרעת
  36. ProofProof from a matching word in the Torah
  37. StatementHe wanted shame for others, so he got shame himself
  38. Statementגבריאל shuts the gate on שבנא's followers