Sanhedrin 75a

סנהדרין ע״ה ע״א

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Topic

Whether a בן נח must give up his life for קידוש השם in public, and the story of the man who grew deathly ill from desire for a woman, where the חכמים ruled 'let him die' rather than allow any intimacy.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier question. Does אלישע's 'go in peace' to נעמן prove that a בן נח need not die for קידוש השם? The גמרא answers that נעמן's act was private, while the question is about public settings, so it stays open. Next, רב tells of a man deathly sick with desire for a woman. The חכמים said 'let him die' rather than allow even a talk behind a fence. The אמוראים explain why the חכמים were so strict even if she was a פנויה, and why marrying her would not have cured him. Then פרק בן סורר ומורה ends, and a new משנה lists those executed by שריפה, including the relatives in the category 'a woman and her daughter'. The גמרא reads the משנה's wording closely to see how it fits אביי and רבא. It then brings a ברייתא that uses the word 'זמה' to extend burning to more relatives. Finally it asks what 'males like females' means and challenges its own answer, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. ChallengeWhy did אלישע tell נעמן 'go in peace'?
2. RejectionPrivate versus public
3. StatementThe lovesick man and the doctors
4. StatementWas she married or single?
5. ChallengeWhy so strict if she was single?
6. Resolutionרב פפא: shame to the family
7. Resolutionרב אחא בריה דרב איקא: guarding modesty
8. ChallengeWhy not just marry her?
9. ResolutionMarriage would not satisfy him
10. ConclusionHadran — Closing בן סורר ומורה
11. StatementNew משנה: who is executed by burning
12. StatementWhich relatives count as 'a woman and her daughter'
13. StatementThe wording shows both women are forbidden
14. StatementThese two are written in the Torah, the rest come from a derivation
15. StatementThis fits אביי: the משנה follows רבי עקיבא
16. ChallengeBut according to רבא, whose view is the משנה?
17. Resolutionרבא reads the משנה as 'a woman whose daughter he married'
18. ChallengeThe second half of the משנה lists relatives who are already written in the Torah
19. Resolutionאביי's answer: the written cases are listed alongside the father-in-law's mother
20. Resolutionרבא's answer: only the mother-in-law is listed alongside the others
21. QuestionAsking for the source of these laws
22. ResponseA ברייתא quotes the verse and asks about the wife's daughter and granddaughters
23. ResponseThe word 'זמה' links the two verses
24. ResponseMales treated like females through the word זמה
25. ResponseYounger and older generations treated alike in both פסוקים
26. QuestionWhat does 'males like females' mean?
27. RejectionIt cannot mean her son's daughter like her daughter's daughter
28. ResponseIt means the father-in-law's mother like the mother-in-law's mother
29. ChallengeThe base case itself has not been established yet