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Sanhedrin 65b

סנהדרין ס״ה ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 65b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Action in עדים זוממין, and the forbidden practices of בעל אוב, ידעוני, דורש אל המתים, מעונן and מנחש

Overview

The amud opens with רבי זירא challenging רבא: a ברייתא says עדים זוממין bring no קרבן חטאת because their sin has no action, even though they actually spoke. רבא first answers that their sin is only through the voice (קול). The גמרא shows this does not fit רבי יוחנן, who holds that moving the mouth (עקימת פיו) is an action. So רבא answers instead that their testimony rests on sight (ראייה). The גמרא then defines a בעל אוב and a ידעוני and defends the definition against two פסוקים. A second ברייתא describes two kinds of בעל אוב, one of which does not work on שבת. That leads to the story of טורנוסרופוס asking רבי עקיבא what makes שבת special. The גמרא explains דורש אל המתים, which brings רבי עקיבא's tears and רבא's teaching that צדיקים could create a world, backed by two stories of creation. The amud ends with ברייתות defining a מעונן and a מנחש.

Opening lines

מֵתִיב רַבִּי זֵירָא:

Rabbi Zeira raises an objection:

יָצְאוּ עֵדִים זוֹמְמִין,

Conspiring witnesses are excluded,

שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶן מַעֲשֶׂה.

since there is no action in their sin.

וְאַמַּאי?

But why?

The steps (25)

  1. Challengeרבי זירא challenges רבא using conspiring witnesses
  2. Resolutionרבא: witnesses are different because their sin is through the voice
  3. ChallengeBut for רבי יוחנן, voice is an action
  4. ProofThe reasons: is moving the mouth an action?
  5. Resolutionרבא's new answer: witnesses depend on sight
  6. StatementDefining a necromancer and a sorcerer
  7. ChallengeA verse suggests the dead speaks normally
  8. ResolutionThe dead rises and speaks from the joints
  9. ChallengeSaul's story suggests the dead speaks normally
  10. RejectionAgain, the dead speaks from the joints
  11. StatementTwo kinds of necromancer and how they differ
  12. ChallengeHow can a skull 'rise' if it is already there?
  13. ResolutionRead it as 'answers,' not 'rises'
  14. Questionטורנוסרופוס asks what makes שבת different
  15. Responseשבת is special because my Master wants it
  16. QuestionHow do you know today is really שבת?
  17. ResponseThree signs that prove which day is שבת
  18. ChallengeAren't שואל אוב and דורש אל המתים the same?
  19. Resolutionדורש אל המתים is sleeping in a graveyard
  20. Statementרבי עקיבא cries over the power of impurity and purity
  21. Statementרבא: righteous people could create a world
  22. Proofרבא creates a man who cannot speak
  23. ProofTwo Sages create a calf every Friday
  24. StatementThree definitions of a soothsayer
  25. StatementWhat a diviner looks like