Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 41a

סנהדרין מ״א ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 41a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 41a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The need for התראה, the case of עדים זוממין against a betrothed girl, and which contradictions between witnesses ruin their testimony

Overview

The amud finishes the sources showing that a court needs התראה (a warning) before it can punish. One verse is applied to מלקות, and the schools of חזקיה, רבי ישמעאל and רבי each bring a פסוק of their own. The גמרא explains why each source is needed: one for lashes, one for סייף and one for סקילה. It then explains why there are two stoning sources, once according to רבי שמעון and once according to רבנן. Next it finds the source that the sinner must accept death ('יומת המת'). רב חנן teaches that עדים זוממין against a נערה המאורסה are not killed, because they can say they only meant to forbid her to her husband. That rule leads to a long discussion of a learned woman (חברה) and of testimony that cannot be subject to הזמה. רב חסדא then rules which disagreements between witnesses ruin their testimony, and he defends his rule against several challenges, including בן זכאי checking fig stems. The amud ends by asking who בן זכאי was. The answer is that רבן יוחנן בן זכאי was still a student when this happened, and that sentence continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תְּנֵהוּ עִנְיָן לְמַלְקוּת.

Apply it to the matter of lashes.

דְּבֵי חִזְקִיָּה תָּנָא:

The school of Ḥizkiyya taught:

״וְכִי יָזִד אִישׁ עַל רֵעֵהוּ

"But if a man comes intentionally upon his neighbor

לְהׇרְגוֹ בְעׇרְמָה״

to kill him with cunning"

The steps (47)

  1. ConclusionThe extra verse is applied to lashes
  2. StatementSchool of חזקיה: warning learned from the murderer
  3. StatementSchool of רבי ישמעאל: warning learned from the wood-gatherer
  4. StatementSchool of רבי: warning learned from 'the matter' of the betrothed young woman
  5. StatementWhy the murderer verse is needed beyond the lashes verse
  6. StatementWhy a stoning source is needed beyond the murderer verse
  7. QuestionWhy are there two stoning sources?
  8. ResponseAccording to רבי שמעון, the extra source teaches about burning
  9. ResponseAccording to רבנן, the Torah sometimes writes what a קל וחומר could teach
  10. ChallengeThen why not write the rule only by stoning?
  11. ResolutionThe same answer: the Torah writes it out anyway
  12. QuestionWhere do we learn that the sinner must accept death?
  13. ResponseThe source: 'the dead shall be put to death'
  14. Statementרב חנן: lying witnesses against a betrothed girl are not killed
  15. ChallengeBut they warned her
  16. ResolutionThe case is where they did not warn her
  17. ChallengeWithout a warning, how could she be killed?
  18. ResolutionThe case is a learned woman, following רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה
  19. ProofThe ברייתא of רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה
  20. ChallengeHow can she be killed if the witnesses can never be punished?
  21. ResolutionThat is exactly רב חנן's point: she is not killed either
  22. QuestionSo when could a חברה ever be executed?
  23. ResponseWhen she sinned a second time
  24. ChallengeThey could say they came to forbid her to the second man
  25. ResolutionSame man again, or a close relative
  26. QuestionWhy did רב חנן mention a betrothed girl?
  27. ResponseEven a betrothed girl gives the witnesses their excuse
  28. Statementרב חסדא: disagreeing about the weapon matters, disagreeing about clothing does not
  29. ChallengeA ברייתא says a clothing disagreement also ruins testimony
  30. ResolutionThe clothing in the ברייתא was the murder weapon
  31. ChallengeA second ברייתא about sandal color
  32. ResolutionThe sandal was used to kill
  33. ChallengeChallenge from בן זכאי checking fig stems
  34. ResolutionThe crime was picking a fig on שבת
  35. ChallengeBut the case was a murder under a fig tree
  36. ResolutionHe stabbed the victim with a fig branch
  37. ChallengeBut he asked about the fruit itself
  38. Resolutionבן זכאי had his own view
  39. QuestionWho was בן זכאי?
  40. ProofThe 120 years of רבי יוחנן בן זכאי
  41. ProofThe סנהדרין left its chamber forty years before the חורבן
  42. ChallengeCorrecting the statement from fines to capital cases
  43. Proofרבן יוחנן בן זכאי led after the destruction
  44. ResolutionIt was a different ben Zakkai
  45. ProofThe plain name supports a different person
  46. ChallengeA ברייתא names רבן יוחנן בן זכאי outright
  47. ResolutionHe was a student at the time