Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 37a

סנהדרין ל״ז ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 37a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 37a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Seating of the סנהדרין and its students, praise of the Jewish people, and the court's warning to witnesses in capital cases

Overview

This amud finishes the משנה about the three rows of תלמידי חכמים who sit before the סנהדרין and move up one row whenever a new judge is needed. The גמרא brings the source for the half-circle seating from the פסוק "שררך אגן הסהר" in שיר השירים, and reads each word as a hint about the סנהדרין. One of those words teaches that a judge may step out only if 23 judges remain. The end of the פסוק, "סוגה בשושנים", praises the Jewish people for not breaking even a fence of lilies. רב כהנא uses it to answer a heretic. ריש לקיש and רבי זירא add more פסוקים showing that even the empty ones and the sinners of Israel have good in them, and a story shows רבי זירא's rough neighbors doing תשובה. אביי then explains that when one student moves up, all the students shift: it is better to be a tail to lions than a head to foxes. A new משנה begins with the court's strong warning to witnesses in דיני נפשות. It teaches that one life is like a whole world, because all humanity came from אדם הראשון alone.

Opening lines

וְשָׁלֹשׁ שׁוּרוֹת שֶׁל תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים

And three rows of Torah scholars

יוֹשְׁבִין לִפְנֵיהֶן

sit before them

כׇּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מַכִּיר אֶת מְקוֹמוֹ

each and every one recognizes his place

הוּצְרְכוּ לִסְמוֹךְ

If they needed to ordain

The steps (27)

  1. StatementThree rows of scholars sit in front of the judges
  2. StatementHow a new judge is added and everyone moves up
  3. StatementThe one who moves up takes the seat that fits his rank
  4. QuestionThe גמרא asks for the source
  5. Responseרבי אחא בר חנינא brings a פסוק from שיר השירים
  6. StatementReading each word of the פסוק as a hint about the סנהדרין
  7. StatementA judge may leave only if 23 remain
  8. StatementThe סנהדרין is like a heap of wheat
  9. StatementNot breaking even a fence of lilies
  10. ChallengeA heretic questions the rule about a נדה
  11. Resolutionרב כהנא answers with the fence of lilies
  12. Statementריש לקיש: even the empty ones are full of מצוות
  13. Statementרבי זירא: even the traitors smell good
  14. Statementרבי זירא befriends rough neighbors
  15. ConclusionAfter רבי זירא's death, the hooligans repent
  16. StatementWhen one student moves up, everyone shifts
  17. ChallengeThe demoted student's complaint
  18. ResolutionBetter to be a tail to lions
  19. StatementHow the court warns witnesses in capital cases
  20. StatementCapital cases are not like money cases
  21. ProofProof from קין: 'your brother's bloods'
  22. StatementA second reading: blood splattered everywhere
  23. StatementOne life is like a whole world
  24. StatementCreation from one person brings peace and blocks heresy
  25. StatementOne seal, yet every person is different
  26. ConclusionEach person must say the world was created for him
  27. StatementThe court begins another point to the witnesses