Shevuos 34b

שבועות ל״ד ע״ב

Shevuot 34b

Learn Shevuos 34b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shevuos 34b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

When witnesses make a defendant a הוחזק כפרן, and the scholars' laughter at רבי שמעון's comparison of שבועת העדות to שבועת הפקדון

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a question: if witnesses watched from outside as money was counted, what is the law? רב המנונא answers that it depends on the defendant's claim. If he says 'it never happened,' the witnesses prove him a הוחזק כפרן. If he says 'I took my own money,' the witnesses add nothing, and רב יהודה praises him. Next comes the story of the man who denied passing a column, where witnesses saw him urinate. In one version ריש לקיש calls him a כפרן, and רב נחמן objects that he only meant 'not for this loan.' In another version the man said 'ever,' so רב נחמן calls him a כפרן, and רבא answers that people forget unimportant things. The גמרא then returns to רבי שמעון, who learns from פקדון that שבועת העדות applies only to money. The scholars of ארץ ישראל laughed at his ברייתא, and the גמרא tries several explanations of the joke. Along the way it decides that פקדון is learned from מעילה, not עדות, because more features are shared. The amud ends with a challenge: through the גזירה שוה, עדות should then take the rule that a deliberate false oath brings no קרבן.

Opening lines

The steps (27)

1. QuestionWhat if witnesses watched from outside?
2. ResponseIt depends on what the defendant claims
3. Conclusionרב יהודה praises רב המנונא
4. StatementThe man by the column: ריש לקיש's ruling
5. Challengeרב נחמן: He only meant 'not for this loan'
6. StatementAnother version: רב נחמן rules the column denier is a liar
7. Challengeרבא: People do not remember unimportant things
8. Statementרבי שמעון: Compare the witness oath to the deposit oath
9. QuestionThe West laughed at it: what was funny?
10. ResponseThe laughter was aimed at the ברייתא's distinction
11. ChallengeIf עדות learns from פקדון, פקדון should learn from עדות
12. Rejectionרבי שמעון may have used a קל וחומר instead
13. ResolutionThe laughter was really about intentional versus unintentional
14. ChallengeThe scholars explain their joke: the word 'hidden' is missing in both cases
15. Rejectionרב הונא: maybe רבי שמעון learned it from מעילה
16. ResolutionThe scholars: that is exactly the joke
17. RejectionLearning from מעילה makes more sense because of the shared word
18. ChallengeLearn from testimony, because both say "shall sin"
19. RejectionMisuse shares more features with deposit
20. ChallengeTestimony also shares many features with deposit
21. ResolutionThe misuse list is longer
22. QuestionSo what was the joke?
23. Responseרב פפא and רב הונא explain the joke
24. RejectionIt is not a joke: the objection came before the גזירה שוה
25. ChallengeBut רבא בר איתי says רבי שמעון gives no atonement for a deliberate deposit oath
26. ResolutionHe keeps the deliberate/accidental difference but drops the other one
27. ChallengeTestimony should learn the deliberate–accidental split from deposit