Welcome to The Oral Talmud!
Below you will find the original video recording of this episode, the core Talmud sources from the conversation (click their citation hyperlinks to find the texts in their fuller context), and a section of Further Learning (links to books, articles, and additional resources mentioned by our hosts).
And remember, the most fulfilling way to deepen your learning is to find a chevruta (a study partner) to share it with!
And remember, the most fulfilling way to deepen your learning is to find a chevruta (a study partner) to share it with!
Here are some questions to ask yourself and/or a chevruta as you encounter this text:
Come and learn Benay’s favourite text in all Talmud: L’Taher et HaSheretz! Here the Rabbis ask what qualities are required in someone who will serve in the ancient Jewish court system, the Sanhedrin. We get two very different, absolutely radical opinions, and the second will be our jumping off point for the next few episodes.
אמר רב כהנא סנהדרי שראו כולן לחובה פוטרין אותו מ"ט כיון דגמירי הלנת דין למעבד ליה זכותא והני תו לא חזו ליהא"ר יוחנן אין מושיבין בסנהדרי אלא בעלי קומה ובעלי חכמה ובעלי מראה ובעלי זקנה ובעלי כשפים ויודעים בע' לשון שלא תהא סנהדרי שומעת מפי המתורגמןאמר רב יהודה אמר רב אין מושיבין בסנהדרין אלא מי שיודע לטהר את השרץ מה"ת אמר רב אני אדון ואטהרנו
Rav Kahana says: In a Sanhedrin where all the judges saw fit to convict the defendant in a case of capital law, they acquit him. The Gemara asks: What is the reasoning for this halakha? It is since it is learned as a tradition that suspension of the trial overnight is necessary in order to create a possibility of acquittal. The halakha is that they may not issue the guilty verdict on the same day the evidence was heard, as perhaps over the course of the night one of the judges will think of a reason to acquit the defendant. And as those judges all saw fit to convict him they will not see any further possibility to acquit him, because there will not be anyone arguing for such a verdict. Consequently, he cannot be convicted. Rabbi Yoḥanan says: They place on the Great Sanhedrin only men of high stature, and of wisdom, and of pleasant appearance, and of suitable age so that they will be respected. And they must also be masters of sorcery, i.e., they know the nature of sorcery, so that they can judge sorcerers, and they must know all seventy languages in order that the Sanhedrin will not need to hear testimony from the mouth of a translator in a case where a witness speaks a different language. Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: They place on the Sanhedrin only one who knows how to render a carcass of a creeping animal pure by Torah law. The judges on the Sanhedrin must be so skilled at logical reasoning that they could even produce a convincing argument that creeping animals, which the Torah states explicitly are ritually impure, are actually pure. Rav said: I will discuss the halakha of the creeping animal and render it pure, i.e., I am able to demonstrate how it is possible to construct such a proof:
ומה נחש שממית ומרבה טומאה טהור שרץ שאינו ממית ומרבה טומאה אינו דין שיהא טהור ולא היא מידי דהוה אקוץ בעלמא
If a snake, which kills other creatures whose carcasses are impure and thereby increases impurity in the world, is itself nevertheless pure, as it is not included in the list of impure creeping animals, then concerning a creeping animal that does not kill and does not increase impurity, isn’t it logical that it should be pure? This argument is rejected: But it is not so; the logic of the halakha of a creeping animal is just as it is concerning the halakhawith regard to an ordinary thorn, which can injure people or animals and can even kill and thereby increase impurity, but is nevertheless pure. It is therefore apparent that this consideration is not relevant to the halakhot of impurity.
Further Learning
- Robert Cover's "Nomos & Narrative" (PDF link)
- Alav HaShalom (wikipedia)
- "Fauci Blames 'Anti-Science Bias' for People Not Following COVID-19 Rules" (Article on Newsweek)
- "A Sanhedrin that executes someone once in seven/seventy years is a bloody court" - Makkot 7a
- Alan Dershowitz "Letters to a Young Lawyer" (on Goodreads)
- If the Sanhedrin witnesses the murder, the recuse themselves: ???
- Yochanan ben Zakkai's deathbed (clip from Ep 1 on Instagram)
- Rabban Gamliel's Criteria for who can be in the Beit Midrash - Oral Talmud Episode 7
- Maggie Anton, author of Rashi's Daughters (Maggie's Website)
- "The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Its Sasanian Context" by Shai Secunda (via PennPress)
- Rabbi Natan Margalit (his Website) - no source for his work on Talmud rhetoric to aim memorization (Chiastic strurcture on wikipedia)
- Richard Elliot Friedman, Oral Traditions (his website)
- Joseph, Coat Many Colours - Genesis 37:3
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