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Sanhedrin 86a

סנהדרין פ״ו ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 86a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Laws of kidnapping: who is exempt, the half-slave, the warning against kidnapping, and witnesses to half the crime

Overview

The amud opens with a ברייתא saying that a kidnapper who sells the victim to his own family is liable. רב ששת changes it to 'exempt,' because an unnamed ספרי follows רבי שמעון, and he requires the victim to be taken out of his family's domain. Next the גמרא explains why the רבנן exempt a father who kidnaps his son. The words ונמצא בידו leave out someone already in the kidnapper's hand, and רבא extends this to teachers and their students. The גמרא then turns to the half-slave. It compares רבי יהודה's view that slaves get no בושת, and explains his ruling through the rule of מיעוט אחר מיעוט, while the רבנן read the same פסוק differently. It then finds the warning against kidnapping, and two ברייתות use דבר הלמד מעניינו to show that 'לא תגנב' is about kidnapping and 'לא תגנבו' is about money. The amud ends with חזקיה and רבי יוחנן arguing whether witnesses to only the stealing or only the selling are killed as זוממין. Their dispute depends on whether 'half a matter' counts as testimony, and the case of the בן סורר ומורה continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תָּנֵי תַּנָּא קַמֵּיהּ דְּרַב שֵׁשֶׁת.

A tanna recited before Rav Sheshet.

אֲמַר לֵיהּ:

He said to him:

אֲנִי שׁוֹנֶה רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר

I teach that Rabbi Shimon says:

״מֵאֶחָיו״ –

"Of his brethren"

The steps (27)

  1. Challengeרב ששת corrects the ברייתא from 'liable' to 'exempt'
  2. ChallengeWhy not say the ברייתא simply follows the רבנן?
  3. ResolutionAn unattributed ספרי follows רבי שמעון
  4. QuestionWhat is the רבנן's reason for exempting one who kidnaps his son?
  5. Responseאביי derives the exemption from the words 'if he shall be found'
  6. Challengeרב פפא challenges אביי using the verse about adultery
  7. Resolutionאביי clarifies that his source is 'found in his hand'
  8. Conclusionרבא applies the rule: teachers are exempt for their students
  9. StatementA new case and a related teaching of רבי יהודה
  10. QuestionWhy does רבי יהודה say slaves get no payment for humiliation?
  11. ResponseThe source: 'a man and his brother'
  12. ResponseThe רבנן: a slave is a 'brother' in מצוות
  13. ChallengeHow does רבי יהודה read the kidnapping verses?
  14. ResolutionTwo exclusions in a row include the half-slave
  15. ResponseHow the רבנן read the same words
  16. QuestionWhere is the warning against kidnapping?
  17. ResponseTwo sources: 'Do not steal' or 'Do not be sold'
  18. ResolutionThey do not really disagree
  19. StatementA ברייתא: 'Do not steal' is about kidnapping
  20. QuestionMaybe it means stealing money?
  21. ResponseLearn it from its context
  22. StatementA second ברייתא: 'You shall not steal' in ויקרא is about money
  23. QuestionMaybe this פסוק is also about kidnapping?
  24. ResponseLearn from the context: the nearby פסוקים are about money
  25. StatementWitnesses to only the stealing or only the selling who become עדים זוממין
  26. StatementThe root of the dispute: 'half a matter'
  27. StatementEven חזקיה agrees about the last witnesses of a בן סורר ומורה