Sanhedrin 55a

סנהדרין נ״ה ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 55a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 55a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Liability for relations with a בהמה, הערה with a בהמה, and when the animal itself is killed

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא: a man or a woman with a בהמה is חייב whether כדרכה or שלא כדרכה. רב נחמן בר רב חסדא splits the cases, and רב פפא argues the split should be reversed. The ברייתא shows the הלכה follows neither of them. רבא then teaches, from an extra word in the aunts' פסוק, that הערה alone counts with a בהמה, and the גמרא explains why that hint can sit among the כרת sins. רב אשי ties a strange question about הערה on oneself to the מחלוקת about משמש מת. Students ask רב ששת whether a בהמה a גוי sinned with is killed, and he brings a קל וחומר from trees used for עבודה זרה. That leads to a debate on why a worshipped animal is not killed: אביי says the shame is small, and רבא says the animal got no pleasure. Both agree the Torah has pity on living creatures. The amud ends as the גמרא begins a proof from the משנה, which finishes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. StatementEnd of the ברייתא: both ways make one liable with an animal
2. Statementרב נחמן בר רב חסדא: two ways for a woman, one way for an animal
3. Challengeרב פפא: the logic should be the other way around
4. RejectionThe ברייתא goes against both opinions
5. Questionרבינא asks about the first stage of intercourse with a male
6. RejectionThe question about a male is obvious
7. QuestionThe real question: the first stage with an animal
8. Responseרבא moves the extra word about the aunts over to an animal
9. ChallengeWhy hint at an animal law in a כרת section?
10. ResolutionThe whole verse is extra, so it can teach about a בהמה
11. QuestionA question about a man who does הערה on himself
12. Rejectionרב ששת brushes off the question
13. Responseרב אשי: it depends on the מחלוקת about משמש מת
14. QuestionIs the animal killed when a גוי sins with it?
15. Responseרב ששת's proof from trees used for idol worship
16. ChallengeChallenge: an animal a gentile bowed to should also be killed
17. ResolutionA gentile cannot be stricter than a Jew
18. ChallengeChallenge: an animal a Jew bowed to should be forbidden like in bestiality
19. Resolutionאביי: the shame in bestiality is much greater
20. ChallengeChallenge: trees carry little shame but are still destroyed
21. ResolutionLiving creatures are different because the Torah has pity on them
22. Resolutionרבא's reason: the animal enjoyed the sin
23. ChallengeBut trees enjoy nothing and are still destroyed
24. ResolutionThe rule is only for living creatures
25. ProofA proof attempt from the shame of the marketplace