Reference for Sanhedrin 72:12

<big><strong>מתני'</strong></big> סנהדרין היתה כחצי גורן עגולה כדי שיהו רואין זה את זה ושני סופרי הדיינין עומדים לפניהם אחד מימין ואחד משמאל וכותבין דברי (מחייבין ודברי מזכין) ר' יהודה אומר שלשה אחד כותב דברי המזכין ואחד כותב דברי המחייבין והשלישי כותב דברי המזכין ודברי המחייבין

Amemar said: What verse [proves this]? — Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no blemish in thee.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cant. IV, 7. [This verse must refer to the Sanhedrin, as such a praise can hardly be sung of the whole people (Yad Ramah).] ');">²²</span> But perhaps a literal defect [blemish] is meant?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., a bodily defect. ');">²³</span> — R. Aha b. Jacob answered: Scripture states, That they may stand there with thee:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. IV, 16. ');">²⁴</span> 'with thee' implies, like to thee.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Elders were required to be like Moses with regard to family descent. ');">²⁵</span> But perhaps it was so stated there on account of the <i>Shechinah</i>?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That passage explicitly states that the Shechinah was to rest upon them. Cf. Num. XI, 17. And I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them; therefore, purity of descent was indispensable, but elsewhere, this may be unnecessary. ');">²⁶</span> — But, said R. Nahman b. Jacob: Scripture states, And they shall bear with thee:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XVIII, 22, with reference to the judges set up on the advice of Jethro, to bear with Moses the burden of the people. In that passage there is no indication of the bestowal of the divine spirit upon them. ');">²⁷</span> 'with thee' implies that they must be like to thee. <b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. THE SANHEDRIN SAT IN THE FORM OF A SEMICIRCULAR THRESHING FLOOR,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Krauss, Sanhedrin-Makkot [1933] a.l. this is discussed at great length. In fact, most threshing floors were round, but their essential feature was that they were shaped like a trough. i.e., forming a depression in the soil. It is to this aspect of the threshing floor that they are compared. Hence the meaning of the passage is: They sat in semi-circular rising tiers, as in an amphitheatre. ');">²⁸</span> SO THAT THEY MIGHT SEE ONE ANOTHER, AND TWO JUDGES CLERKS STOOD BEFORE THEM, ONE TO THE RIGHT, THE OTHER TO THE LEFT, AND WROTE DOWN THE ARGUMENTS OF THOSE WHO WOULD ACQUIT AND THOSE WHO WOULD CONDEMN.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' They were two, as a precautionary measure against error. Cf. supra 34a. ');">²⁹</span> R. JUDAH SAID: [THERE WERE] THREE: ONE TO RECORD THE ARGUMENTS FOR ACQUITTAL, A SECOND, THOSE FOR CONVICTION, AND A THIRD, TO RECORD THE ARGUMENTS FOR ACQUITTAL AND CONVICTION.

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