2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Sanhedrin 51

Today in the list of capital punishments, I got a little verse that hits close to home.

Gemara asks: In what way is she different from the priest himself? A priest who desecrates Shabbat is executed by stoning, so why would one have thought that the daughter of a priest should be punished by burning? The Gemara answers: It might enter your mind to say that concerning the priest himself, the halakhot of Shabbat are less stringent, as acts that are forbidden on Shabbat are permitted to him with regard to the performance of the Temple service. Therefore, one might have thought that if a priest desecrates Shabbat in a manner that is forbidden to him, his punishment should not be more severe than that of a non-priest.

So, no one is allowed to break Shabbat . . . but the Priest works on Shabbat.

I feel you my ancestor! One of the hardest things about being a rabbi is not getting to enjoy Shabbat as a full day of rest. Not that I don’t like leading services and being at B Mitzvahs. . . but I can’t cook a nice meal and just chill at home with friends and family. Good thing we don’t get punished for working!

Sanhedrin 50

Today’s daf discusses which forms of capital punishment are considered the worst because they are reserved for the worst crimes. Within this we get this lesson:

The severity of which transgression is greater: The severity of the transgression of the one who subverts the city, inciting them to sin, or the severity of the transgression of the subverted? You must say that the severity of the transgression of the subverter is greater.

The person who leads others to sin is worse the sinners. So, those who lead others to wrong don’t have clean hands. And leaders need to be so careful as they are ultimately held responsible for those they lead, even and especially those that they lead astray.

Sanhedrin 49

Even when we work alone, we rely on others. We sometimes like to think we are completely self reliant, but, as they say “no man is an island.” I may lead a service by myself, but I rely on many others to make sure the building is ready, the airconditioning on, the prayer books out etc. It does us good to remember that we can only do what we do because other people are doing what they do.

On our daf today, we get this message, but in what it takes to win wars and have a successful kingdom.

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says: Were it not for David, who studied Torah, Joab would not have been able to wage war successfully (Joab was King David’s general), and were it not for the military acumen of Joab, David would not have been able to study Torah. As it is written: “And David executed judgment and justice to all his people, and Joab, son of Zeruiah, was over the army” (II Samuel 8:15–16). What is the reason that David “executed judgment and justice to all his people”? He was able to do so because “Joab, son of Zeruiah, was over the army,” assisting him and fighting his battles. And what is the reason that “Joab, son of Zeruiah, was over the army”? He was able to do so because “David executed judgment and justice to all his people.”

Here we see that both David and Joab relied on each other. Joab was able to be a good warrior because David had the wisdom to guide him from studying Torah. And, David had the luxury of studying because he was able to truth Joab to lead his army!

In this moment, I want to also highlight that the Torah is hopefully a moral guide. It reminds us that we serve, not the king, but the King of Kings – God.

No man is an island. And no man is God. If we can remember that (and, more importantly, our government remember that) then we might just make it.

Sanhedrin 48

We live in such a wasteful society. Single use items are standard. We throw things away, don’t sew or repair items with little damage and it’s terrible for the environment. Judaism teaches us that we do not destroy. On our daf today we get one fairly extreme example.

Come and hear: If the father and the mother of the deceased were throwing garments onto their late son’s bier so that they would be buried along with him, it is a mitzva for the others present to save those garments from being lost.

That’s right. We don’t waste, not even in death!! What’s one say you can be less wasteful?

Sanhedrin 47

If you know anything about Jewish burial practices, you may know that we try to bury as quickly as possible ideally within 24 hours of death. However, we learn on today staff that there are reasons to delay a burial, besides holidays and Shabbat.

The Gemara suggests: Come and hear a proof from a baraita: If one left his deceased relative unburied overnight for the sake of his honor, for example, in order to assemble the people from the neighboring towns for the funeral, or to bring him professional lamenters, or to bring him a coffin or shrouds, he does not transgress the prohibition of “his body shall not remain all night,” as anyone who acts in such a manner does so only for the sake of honoring the dead.This indicates that the eulogy and other funeral rites are performed to honor the deceased. The Gemara rejects this argument: This is what the baraita is saying: Anyone who acts in such a manner for the sake of honoring the livingdoes not transgress the prohibition, as there is no degradation of the dead.

So, for the honor of the deceased, we can delay a burial. This means that if a family needs to travel in from out of town we can delay. I teach this text frequently to families who worry about what to do. It honors the dead and it gives so much comfort to that family member who gets to be there.

Sanhedrin 46

One of my favorite teachings is on the daf today! It teaches that we cannot leave a corpse overnight, even a “bad man” that has been executed by the courts by hanging. Why? Find out.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir says: The Sages told a parable: To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to two brothers who were twins and lived in the same city. One was appointed king, while the other went out to engage in banditry. The king commanded that his brother be punished, and they hanged his twin brother for his crimes. Anyone who saw the bandit hanging would say: The king was hanged. The king, therefore, commanded that his brother be taken down, and they took the bandit down. Similarly, people are created in God’s image, and therefore God is disgraced when a corpse is hung for a transgression that the person has committed.

We are the living image of God. When we leave a persons dead body to rot, we are disgracing the very image of God! (No matter how far the person was from living up to deserving that image.)

Sanhedrin 45

When we think of someone being stoned to death (okay, potheads, I’m talking about the biblical punishment) we tend to think of everyone hurling stones. Like this depiction of the Catholica St Stephen

But, the Talmud imagines stoning in a totally different way:

The place of stoning from which the condemned man is pushed to his death is a platform twice the height of an ordinary person. He is made to stand at the edge of the platform, and then one of the witnesses who testified against him pushes him down by the hips, so that he falls face up onto the ground. If he turned over onto his chest, with his face downward, the witness turns him over onto his hips. And if he dies through this fall to the ground, the obligation to stone the transgressor is fulfilled. And if the condemned man does not die from his fall, the second witness takes the stone that has been prepared for this task and places, i.e., casts, it on his chest. And if he dies with the casting of this first stone, the obligation to stone the transgressor is fulfilled. And if he does not die with the casting of this stone, then his stoning is completed by all of the Jewish people, i.e., by all the people who assembled for the execution, as it is stated: “The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people” (Deuteronomy 17:7).

Yep. It’s more like pushing someone off the diving board with no water. . . then rolling a boulder onto them. We learn the height of the platform has to be 2-3x the height of a man (so either 12 or 18 ft.) and it takes TWO men to move the boulder.

So, what do we learn? These Christian depictions are not based on Jewish law! So, Jewish courts didn’t do it. Just saying.

Sanhedrin 44

We all mess up, but some messes are bigger than others. On our add today, the rabbis discuss a few of Joshua’s failures. And, in seeing Gods reaction, we learn a lesson in priority.

The verse states: “And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man stood over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said: No, but I am captain of the host of the Lord; I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down” (Joshua 5:13–14). . .

The Gemara understands the words of the angel that Joshua encountered as a rebuke for some offense Joshua committed: The angel said to Joshua: Yesterday, in the afternoon, you neglected sacrificing the daily afternoon offering because you were engaged in warfare, and now, when it is dark, you neglected Torah study. Joshua asked him: For which of these sins have you come to reprove me? The angel said to him: “I have now come,” i.e., the fact that I did not come before, but waited until now, when it is dark, indicates that the sin of neglecting Torah study is the more severe one. Joshua immediately acted to rectify the matter by deciding that he must devote more time to Torah study, as it is stated: “And Joshua lodged that night” (Joshua 8:9) “into the midst of the valley [ha’emek]” (Joshua 8:13). And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This teaches that he lodged all night in the depth [be’omekah] of halakha, thereby atoning for his previous neglect of Torah study.

So, Joshua failed to offer sacrifices and then he failed to study Torah. What do we learn?

Shmuel bar Unya says in the name of Rav: Torah study is greater than the sacrificing of the daily offerings, as it is stated: “I have now come,” demonstrating that the neglect of Torah study is a more serious offense than the neglect of the daily offerings.

The rabbis clearly believe that Torah study is paramount. If we take the words of Torah seriously, and not just study for entertainment, but study to let it change us, Torah study will lead to us doing mitzvot and being good people.

Sanhedrin 43

Why is it so hard to pick just one gem? There are two on today’s daf that I just can’t pass up. The first tells us that when a person is convicted of a capital offense, that the entire town must hear about it so any evidence that may pardon the convicted individual will come forward. The second set of gems applies to us all and are not about killing an evil person, but about killing the evil within each of us.

MISHNA: If, after the condemned man is returned to the courthouse, the judges find a reason to acquit him, they acquit him and release him immediately. But if they do not find a reason to acquit him, he goes out to be stoned. And a crier goes out before him and publicly proclaims: So-and-so, son of so-and-so, is going out to be stoned because he committed such and such a transgression. And so-and-so and so-and-so are his witnesses. Anyone who knows of a reason to acquit him should come forward and teach it on his behalf. GEMARA: Abaye says: And the crier must also publicly proclaim that the transgression was committed on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, and at such and such a place, as perhaps there are those who know that the witnesses could not have been in that place at that time, and they will come forward and render the witnesses conspiring witnesses.

How far will they go for justice?! And I think of all the people who have served jail time or even have been killed for crimes they did not commit. . .

This next one is for all of us:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: With regard to anyone who slaughters his evil inclination after it has tempted him to sin, if he repents and confesses his sin, the verse ascribes him credit as though he had honored the Holy One, Blessed be He, in two worlds, this world and the World-to-Come, as it is written: “Whoever slaughters a thanks-offering [toda] honors Me [yekhabdaneni]” (Psalms 50:23), which can also be read as: Whoever slaughters his evil inclination and confesses [mitvadeh] honors Me, and the two instances of the letter nun in the word yekhabdaneni allude to the two worlds.

Within this discussion of capital crimes we get this gem that teaches us all that we can change. The power of tushuvah (repenence). But to really change, we need to be humble.

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi also says: When the Temple is standing, if a person sacrifices a burnt-offering, he has the reward given for bringing a burnt-offering, and if he sacrifices a meal-offering, he has the reward given for bringing a meal-offering. But as for one whose spirit is humble, the verse ascribes him credit for his prayer as though he has sacrificed all the offerings, as it is stated: “The offerings of God are a broken spirit” (Psalms 51:19), which teaches that a broken spirit is equivalent to the offerings to God, in the plural. And moreover, his prayer is not rejected, as it is stated in the continuation of that verse: “A broken and contrite heart, God, You will not despise.”

Sanhedrin 42

We get a great little gem on today’s daf.

Being shamed by oneself is not comparable to being shamed by others.

Oh I love self-deprecating humor! And it also reminds me of when my husband and I first started dating and I thought he was idealizing me . . . so I gave him a list of my flaws, pointing out things it would take him years to notice.

It is true, it’s easier to point out your own flaws then to have others tell them to you – even if you knw what they are.

But, we all have blind spots. So, while I may have enumerated the flaws I saw, I am sure I missed a ton.