Sanhedrin 75b

סנהדרין ע״ה ע״ב

Learn Sanhedrin 75b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How the ברייתא extends the עריות of a wife's family to further generations, and why a man's own grandmother is not liable to שריפה through the same comparison.

Overview

The amud explains a ברייתא about relatives in a wife's family who are forbidden as עריות. אביי reads the ברייתא as treating a man's own granddaughters like his wife's descendants. רבא, in the name of רב יצחק בר אבודימי, builds this with a two-link chain: הנה–הנה, then זמה–זמה. The גמרא next asks what 'below like above' means. It concludes that the wife's grandmothers are treated like the mother-in-law, and corrects the wording to 'above like below.' אביי explains that the word זמה extends the איסור to three generations above, like the three below. רב אשי instead keeps the original wording and reads 'below' as less strict. The גמרא then asks why a man's own grandmother should not be forbidden with שריפה. אביי answers from ״אִמְּךָ הִיא״, and רבא shows that the derivation fails under both methods of using a גזירה שוה. The refutation of the second method begins at the end of the amud and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. Resolutionאביי explains what the ברייתא is really asking
2. ChallengeBut lewdness is not written by his own relatives
3. ResolutionA two-step chain: הנה, then זמה
4. StatementQuoting the next line of the ברייתא: below like above
5. QuestionWhat does below like above mean?
6. RejectionNot her granddaughters, since they appear together
7. ResponseIt means the grandmothers are like the mother-in-law
8. ChallengeBut that is above like below
9. ResolutionFix the wording to above like below
10. ChallengeHow can the word זמה be written about relatives the Torah never mentions?
11. Resolutionאביי: the word זמה extends the family line three generations up
12. Resolutionאביי: the punishment and the warning each carry over to the other side
13. Resolutionרב אשי: keep the original wording, because below means lower in strictness
14. ChallengeWhy not forbid his own grandmother too?
15. Resolutionאביי: 'She is your mother' limits the punishment
16. Resolutionרבא: Under either method, it is not derived
17. StatementHow the first method seems to work
18. RejectionFirst refutation: her mother is burned, but his mother is only stoned
19. RejectionSecond refutation: his grandmother cannot be stricter than his mother
20. RejectionThird refutation: mother and grandmother should be treated the same
21. ConclusionEven if stoning is more severe, the third refutation still blocks it
22. StatementLearning the grandmother prohibition with the softer method
23. RejectionSetting up a refutation for the view that burning is stricter