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Sanhedrin 67b

סנהדרין ס״ז ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 67b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The source for stoning a מכשף, the levels of forbidden and permitted magic, and stories about sorcery and the plagues of מצרים.

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a ברייתא about how a מכשף (sorcerer) is executed. רבי עקיבא finishes rejecting the sword opinion. בן עזאי learns סקילה from the verse placed right next to the מכשפה verse. רבי יהודה learns it from אוב and ידעוני, which the Torah singled out from the group of sorcerers. When the גמרא challenges רבי יהודה with the rule of שני כתובים הבאים כאחד, רבי זכריה answers that רבי יהודה holds such verses do teach. The גמרא then turns to teachings about sorcery: רבי יוחנן explains the name כשפים, and רבי חנינא says sorcery cannot touch a person of great merit. אביי tells demon-work apart from sorcery. He also divides magic into three levels like שבת: real magic gets סקילה, illusion is פטור אבל אסור, and creating through הלכות יצירה is fully permitted. Stories follow about tricks, spells and the limits of demons. Then comes a dispute about the plague of frogs. Finally the גמרא returns to רבי עקיבא's statement in the משנה.

Opening lines

מִיתָה אַחַת.

...one kind of death.

בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר:

Ben Azzai says:

נֶאֱמַר ״מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה״,

It is stated: 'You shall not let a witch live,'

וְנֶאֱמַר ״כׇּל שֹׁכֵב עִם בְּהֵמָה מוֹת יוּמָת״.

and it is stated: 'Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.'

The steps (27)

  1. RejectionEnd of רבי עקיבא's rejection: gentiles have only one death penalty
  2. Statementבן עזאי learns stoning from the verse placed next to it
  3. Rejectionרבי יהודה rejects learning stoning just from verses placed side by side
  4. Statementרבי יהודה's own source: אוב and ידעוני were singled out to teach about all sorcerers
  5. ChallengeChallenge: אוב and ידעוני are two verses teaching the same thing, which cannot teach about others
  6. Resolutionרבי יהודה holds that two parallel verses do teach
  7. StatementWhy sorcery is called כשפים
  8. StatementNothing besides ה׳, not even sorcery
  9. Proofרבי חנינא is not afraid of a sorceress
  10. ChallengeIf sorcery has no power, why does it contradict Heaven?
  11. Resolutionרבי חנינא was protected by his great merit
  12. StatementTwo words for magic: demon-work and sorcery
  13. StatementHow to tell demon-work from sorcery
  14. StatementSorcery laws work like Shabbat laws: three levels
  15. StatementReal magic gets stoning; fooling the eyes is exempt but forbidden
  16. StatementThe permitted level: creating a calf through the laws of creation
  17. StatementA magician pulls silk rolls from his nose
  18. StatementDemons cannot create anything smaller than a barley grain
  19. RejectionDemons cannot create at all; they only gather
  20. Statementרב saw an Arab slice up a camel and bring it back to life
  21. RejectionNo blood or dung was left behind, so it was only a trick of the eyes
  22. Statementזעירי's donkey turns into a bridge plank when it touches water
  23. Statementינאי turns the sorceress innkeeper into a donkey
  24. StatementThe plague began with one frog that filled all of Egypt
  25. StatementThis frog question is an older dispute between תנאים
  26. Rejectionרבי אלעזר בן עזריה rejects רבי עקיבא's reading
  27. StatementBack to רבי עקיבא's statement in the משנה