Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 51a

סנהדרין נ״א ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 51a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 51a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The burning punishment of a בת כהן: the ברייתא and the גמרא's line-by-line analysis, including רבי מאיר's dispute and רבי אליעזר's 'her father / her father-in-law'

Overview

This amud studies a ברייתא about the פסוק 'ובת איש כהן כי תחל לזנות... באש תשרף' (ויקרא 21:9). The ברייתא teaches that a בת כהן who commits adultery is burned whomever she married. It also teaches that only she is burned, not the man she sinned with and not עדים זוממין. The גמרא then works through the ברייתא line by line. It explains why the ברייתא raised the ideas of a שבת violation, an unmarried woman, and a sin with her father, and why each idea is rejected. It shows that the law of a father and daughter comes only from גזירות שוות. It explains why a בת כהן married to a non-כהן might have been left out, and notes that this ruling follows חכמים, not רבי מאיר. Finally, it tries to explain רבי אליעזר's 'her father / her father-in-law'. רבין reads it according to the רבנן, and רבי ירמיה objects and begins his own explanation, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֵין לִי אֶלָּא שֶׁנִּיסֵּת לְכֹהֵן.

I have only a case where she married a priest.

נִיסֵּת לְלֵוִי וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל,

If she married a Levite or an Israelite,

לְכוּתִי, לְחָלָל,

a Samaritan, a disqualified priest,

לְמַמְזֵר וּלְנָתִין – מִנַּיִין?

a mamzer or a Gibeonite, from where do we know?

The steps (32)

  1. StatementA priest's daughter is burned even if she married a non-priest
  2. StatementOnly she is burned, not her partner and not lying witnesses
  3. Statementרבי אליעזר's view: burning with her father, stoning with her father-in-law
  4. StatementThe גמרא quotes the ברייתא: maybe even if she desecrated שבת?
  5. ChallengeWhy would anyone think that? Breaking שבת already gets stoning
  6. Resolutionרבא explains the ברייתא follows רבי שמעון
  7. ChallengeWhy would she be different from the כהן himself?
  8. ResolutionA כהן is allowed some שבת work for the Temple, but she is not
  9. ChallengeWhy would an unmarried בת כהן be included?
  10. ResolutionAnswer: following רבי אלעזר, an unmarried woman can also be called a זונה
  11. StatementThe ברייתא suggests 'her father' might limit the law to a sin with her father
  12. ChallengeChallenge: why would a sin with her father be special to a בת כהן?
  13. ResolutionAnswer: the father and daughter ban is learned from 'הנה' 'הנה'
  14. ResolutionSecond link: the punishment of שריפה is learned from 'זמה' 'זמה'
  15. ResolutionWhy the suggestion was needed: one might have limited רבא's teaching
  16. StatementA בת כהן married to a non-כהן is still burned
  17. ChallengeWhy would her husband matter at all?
  18. Resolution'תחל לזנות' might mean the sin must be what profanes her
  19. ProofProof that an unfit husband disqualifies her
  20. ProofEven a לוי or ישראל husband stops her from eating תרומה
  21. ConclusionSo the ברייתא teaches she is still burned
  22. StatementThis ברייתא does not follow רבי מאיר
  23. Statementרבי מאיר: married to an unfit man, she is treated like a non-כהן
  24. StatementThe Rabbis: both women pay no fifth and are burned
  25. QuestionWhat does רבי אליעזר mean by 'her father' and 'her father-in-law'?
  26. ChallengeIf it means relations with her father, why mention a בת כהן?
  27. ResolutionHer father means her father's authority
  28. ChallengeWhose view fits this reading?
  29. ChallengeIt does not fit רבי ישמעאל either
  30. Resolutionרבין: it follows the רבנן, with a new reading
  31. ResolutionHer father-in-law means stoning for a betrothed girl
  32. Challengeרבי ירמיה objects: the ברייתא never mentions harsher or lighter