Sanhedrin 47b

סנהדרין מ״ז ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 47b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When executed people get כפרה; whether graves and items set aside for the dead become forbidden for benefit.

Overview

The גמרא explains that people killed unjustly by a non-Jewish government get כפרה through their death, but people executed by a בית דין do not get it from death alone. They get it after death and burial, and, according to one answer, after their flesh decomposes. That is why their bones are moved to the family plot only after the flesh has decomposed. רב אשי gives a different answer: כפרה comes soon after burial, but the time for אבלות had already passed, so mourning is never started. Next comes a story about dirt taken from רב's grave as a cure for fever. שמואל allows it, because ground attached to the earth never becomes forbidden, and he learns this through a היקש from עבודה זרה. Three ברייתות seem to show graves becoming forbidden, and each is answered by saying it means a קבר בנין, a grave built from cut stones. Finally, אביי and רבא argue whether a garment woven for a dead person is forbidden. Their argument depends on whether הזמנה, setting something aside, counts. The גמרא begins to explain why רבא does not learn from עגלה ערופה, and his answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. RejectionUnjust deaths versus just executions
2. ProofProof from not burying them with their ancestors
3. RejectionDeath and burial are both needed
4. Challengeרב אדא's challenge from the rules of mourning
5. ResolutionThe flesh must also decompose
6. ProofThe משנה's wording supports the answer
7. Resolutionרב אשי: mourning was missed at its start, so it stays missed
8. ChallengeIf so, why wait for the flesh to decompose?
9. ResolutionWaiting is practical, because the body cannot be moved earlier
10. StatementDirt from רב's grave used for fever, and שמואל allows it
11. ProofA פסוק places graves next to עבודה זרה
12. ProofAttached idols are not forbidden, so attached graves are not either
13. ChallengeA grave dug for one's father becomes forbidden
14. ResolutionThe ברייתא means a built grave
15. ChallengeA new grave becomes forbidden once a stillborn is placed in it
16. ResolutionThis too means a built grave
17. ChallengeThree kinds of graves: a known grave stays forbidden
18. ChallengeThe third grave: one that harms the public
19. ResolutionAgain, it is a built grave
20. ChallengeMaybe the found grave belongs to a מת מצוה
21. ResolutionA מת מצוה would be known
22. StatementA garment woven for a dead person
23. StatementThe reasons: does designation count?
24. Responseאביי's source: learning from עגלה ערופה
25. Responseרבא's source: learning from עבודה זרה
26. ChallengeWhy doesn't רבא learn from עגלה ערופה?