Sanhedrin 69

וכתיב (שמואל ב כא, י) ותקח רצפה בת איה את השק ותטהו לה אל הצור בתחלת קציר

And it is written, And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sack-cloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. verse 10, as a protection from the birds of prey. They must have been hanged on trees. ');">¹</span> It is written, And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXV, 4. ');">²</span>

וכתיב (במדבר כה, ד) ויאמר ה' אל משה קח את כל ראשי העם אם העם חטאו ראשי העם מה חטאו

If the people had sinned, wherein had the chiefs sinned?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Only the people are mentioned as sinning (vv. 2, 3), but not particularly the chiefs. ');">³</span> — Rab Judah said in Rab's name: The Holy One, blessed be He, said unto Moses: Divide them into [many] courts.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To try the sinners. The verse is accordingly translated: Take the chiefs of the people (and appoint them as judges,) and hang up them (whom they shall condemn) etc. ');">⁴</span>

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב אמר לו הקב"ה למשה חלק להם בתי דינין מ"ט אילימא משום שאין דנין שנים ביום אחד והאמר רב חסדא לא שנו אלא בשתי מיתות אבל במיתה אחת דנין

Why? Shall we say, because two [men] may not be tried [and sentenced] on the same day?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By one court; therefore many courts had to be set up, since the culprits were many'. ');">⁵</span> But R. Hisda said: This was taught only with reference to [charges involving] two different modes of execution;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the members of the court would find it difficult to find a plea in favour of the accused in each case. ');">⁶</span>

אלא כדי שישוב חרון אף מישראל:

whereas [cases that involve only] one mode of execution<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When the crime committed is the same, as in this case. ');">⁷</span> may be tried? — But it was so, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When it was seen that all the chiefs were concerned in punishing the sinners. ');">⁸</span>

דיני ממונות גומרין בו ביום כו': מנהני מילי

CIVIL SUITS MAY BE CONCLUDED ON THE SAME DAY etc.&nbsp;… Whence is this derived? — R. Hanina said: Scripture saith, She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged [yalin] in her,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. I, 21. I.e., judgment was held over lest points for acquittal might be found. ihkh means, 'to stay over night'. ');">⁹</span> but now, murderers.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., but now they do not postpone the verdict until the next day, and thus are (judicial) murderers. ');">¹⁰</span>

א"ר חנינא דאמר קרא (ישעיהו א, כא) מלאתי משפט צדק ילין בה ועתה מרצחים ורבא אמר מהכא (ישעיהו א, יז) אשרו חמוץ אשרו דיין שמחמץ את דינו

Raba derived it from the following: Ashsheru hamoz<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, 17. [H] (E.V. 'relieve the oppressed'). ');">¹¹</span> — i.e., bless<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] is rendered, 'declare happy'. ');">¹²</span>

ואידך אשרו חמוץ ולא חומץ ואידך האי מלאתי משפט מאי עביד ליה

the judge who reserves<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'makes sour,' (H] from [H], 'sour') in the sense of preserving (e.g., pickle vegetables), and hence metaphorically 'to postpone', 'to keep in reserve.' ');">¹³</span> his verdict. And the other?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Hanina, who derives it from the other verse. How does he interpret the verse? ');">¹⁴</span>

כדר' אלעזר אמר ר' יצחק דא"ר אלעזר אמר רבי יצחק כל תענית שמלינין בו את הצדקה כאילו שופך דמים שנאמר מלאתי משפט צדק וגו' וה"מ בריפתא ותמרי אבל בזוזי חיטי ושערי לית לן בה:

— [He interprets it thus:] Relieve the oppressed,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., attend to the plaintiff. ');">¹⁵</span> not the oppressor.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The defendant. He is hinting at the general rule in legal procedure that the plaintiff must be heard first. Cf. B K. 46b. The application of this law is particularly noticeable in the case of a counter claim, designed to nullify the original, when priority must be given to the first claim. ');">¹⁶</span>

לפיכך אין דנין כו': מ"ט

And the latter [Raba]: how does he utilize the verse: And she that was full of justice? — Even as R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Isaac. Viz.: If on a fast day, the distribution of alms<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It was customary to distribute the value of the food saved during the fast to the poor. Cf. Ber. 6b the merit of a fast consists in dispensing charity. ');">¹⁷</span> is postponed overnight, it is just as though blood were shed,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the needy who relied on it might have died of starvation. ');">¹⁸</span>

משום דלא אפשר היכי ליעבד לידייניה במעלי שבתא וליגמריה לדיניה במעלי שבתא דילמא חזו טעם לחובה ובעו למיעבד הלנת דין לדייניה במעלי שבתא וליגמריה בשבתא וליקטליה בשבתא אין רציחה דוחה את שבת וליקטליה לאורתא נגד השמש בעינן

as it is written, She that was full of justice, charity<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] means also 'charity', as in fact, in Hebrew there is only one word for 'righteousness' and 'charity': charity is righteousness. The verse is accordingly translated: She was full of justice; but now that charity is made to lodge therein, i.e., postponed overnight, they ate as murderers. ');">¹⁹</span> etc. This, however, applies only to bread and dates;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., only when these articles of food were distributed, on which the poor depend for breaking their fast. ');">²⁰</span>

וליגמרי' לדיניה בשבתא וליקטליה בחד בשבתא נמצא אתה מענה את דינו נידייניה במעלי שבתא ונגמריה בחד בשבתא מינשו טעמייהו אף על גב דשני סופרי הדיינין עומדים לפניהם וכותבין דברי המזכין ודברי המחייבין נהי דבפומא כתבין ליבא דאינשי אינשי הלכך לא אפשר

but in the case of money, wheat or barley, [postponement] does not matter. THEREFORE TRIALS ARE NOT HELD [ON THE EVE OF A SABBATH OR FESTIVAL] etc. Why so? — Because it is impossible, for how could it be done? Should they try him [the accused] on the eve of the Sabbath and pronounce judgment on the same day; perhaps they may find cause for condemnation, and judgment will then have to be postponed overnight.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And pronounced on the Sabbath, which is not permissible, v. nn 6 and 7. ');">²¹</span>

א"ל ר"ל לר' יוחנן ותהא קבורת מת מצוה דוחה שבת מק"ו ומה עבודה שדוחה שבת קבורת מת מצוה דוחה אותה מולאחותו

Or again, if they try him on the eve of the Sabbath, and pronounce judgment on the Sabbath, and execute him on that day,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Execution must be carried out on the same day as the pronouncement of the verdict. ');">²²</span> but execution cannot supersede the Sabbath.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Killing is one of the labours forbidden on the Sabbath, even when it takes the form of judicial execution. ');">²³</span>

כדתני' (במדבר ו, ז) לאביו ולאמו לאחיו ולאחותו מה ת"ל הרי שהיה הולך לשחוט את פסחו ולמול את בנו

Again, should he be executed in the evening; execution must be carried out 'in the face of the sun.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., in the day time. Num XXV, 4. ');">²⁴</span> One the other hand, if judgment is pronounced on the Sabbath whist he is executed on the first day of the week [Sunday], they might delay the course of justice.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since execution must be carried out on the same day as the verdict. [H] 'to afflict', when used in connection with a court verdict, means to afflict the condemned man by postponing his execution, the wait being an additional mental torment. ');">²⁵</span> If he be tried on the eve of the Sabbath, and the matter concluded on the first day of the week, they might have forgotten their reasons by then, for although two judges' clerks stand before them and write down the arguments of those who would acquit and those who would convict,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Supra 34a. ');">²⁶</span> they can but record according to the mouth,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the actual words. ');">²⁷</span> yet once the heart forgets, it remains forgotten.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the spirit of the argument may not be recalled through the written word. ');">²⁸</span> Hence this is impossible. Resh Rakish said to R. Johanan: Why should not the burial of a Meth-Mizwah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] Lit., 'A corpse which it is a religious obligation (to bury). 'The burial of a dead person has no relatives to attend to him devolves upon anyone, even a High Priest. This query is raised here only because of a subsequent question whether execution on a Sabbath day is permissible. ');">²⁹</span> supersede [the laws of] the Sabbath, reasoning a minori: if the Temple service, which sets aside the Sabbath,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., by the offering of the Tamid or daily burnt offering. Cf. Num. XXVIII, 2; Pes 77a. ');">³⁰</span> is itself suspended for the burial of a Meth-Mizwah (as is deduced from, And to his sister, even as it has been taught: To his father and to his mother and to his brother and to his sister:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. VI, 7. For these the Nazarite may not render himself unclean. A similar restriction is imposed on the High Priest. ');">³¹</span> What does this teach us?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., why is it necessary to detail all these relations, seeing that it has already been stated in the previous verse: He shall not come near to a dead body, which includes all relations? The Sifre on the verse comments on the reason for each: He may not defile himself for his father, but he must for a Meth-Mizwah; nor for his mother, but he must for a Meth-Mizwah, even if he be a priest as well as a Nazarite, nor for his brother, but he must for a Meth-Mizwah even if he be a High Priest as well as a Nazarite; nor for his sister, but he must defile himself for a Meth-Mizwah, even if he be a High Priest as well as a Nazarite and engaged in such duties as are stated in the Gemara. ');">³²</span> [Even] if he [the <i>Nazir</i>] were on his way to sacrifice the Paschal lamb or to circumcise his son,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Both of which acts must he performed at a prescribed time. ');">³³</span>