Commentary for Berakhot 42:11
אמר ליה ר' יהודה וכי מפני שסמכו ענין לו נוציא לזה לסקילה אלא אוב וידעוני בכלל כל המכשפים היו ולמה יצאו להקיש להן ולומר לך מה אוב וידעוני בסקילה אף מכשפה בסקילה
R. Judah said to him : Because the two matters are in juxtaposition, shall we inflict stoning upon the person [condemned for sorcery] ! [No;] but they that divine by a ghost or a familiar spirit come under the category of sorcerers; and why are they particularised? To draw an analogy and teach thee that as these are punished by stoning, so also is the sorceress.
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
I.e. use the severest form of execution (viz. stoning) on such flimsy grounds! He therefore proceeds to give a stronger argument.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
Why is it specially mentioned of them that they shall be stoned? Cf. Lev. 20:27.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
This is an illustration of the eighth of R. Ishmael's exegetical principles by which the Torah is expounded : If anything is included in a general proposition [diviners are in the category of sorcerers] and is then made the subject of a special statement [as in Lev. xx. 27], that which is predicated of it [viz. death by stoning] is not to be understood as limited to itself alone, but is to be applied to the whole of the general proposition ; Singer, pp. 13 f. It is hereby shown that R. Judah rejected the inference from juxtaposition and based his conclusion upon this rule.
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