| 17a. עמך עמך ואת בהדייהו ורבי יהודה עמך משום שכינה,ורבנן אמר קרא (במדבר יא, יז) ונשאו אתך במשא העם אתך ואת בהדייהו ורבי יהודה אתך בדומין לך,ורבנן (שמות יח, כב) מוהקל מעליך ונשאו אתך נפקא וילפא סנהדרי גדולה מסנהדרי קטנה,ת"ר (במדבר יא, כו) וישארו שני אנשים במחנה יש אומרים בקלפי נשתיירו,שבשעה שאמר לו הקב"ה למשה אספה לי שבעים איש מזקני ישראל אמר משה כיצד אעשה אברור ששה מכל שבט ושבט נמצאו שנים יתירים אברור חמשה חמשה מכל שבט ושבט נמצאו עשרה חסרים אברור ששה משבט זה וחמשה משבט זה הריני מטיל קנאה בין השבטים,מה עשה בירר ששה ששה והביא שבעים ושנים פיתקין על שבעים כתב זקן ושנים הניח חלק בללן ונתנן בקלפי אמר להם בואו וטלו פיתקיכם כל מי שעלה בידו זקן אמר כבר קידשך שמים מי שעלה בידו חלק אמר המקום לא חפץ בך אני מה אעשה לך,כיוצא בדבר אתה אומר (במדבר ג, מז) ולקחת חמשת חמשת שקלים לגולגולת אמר משה כיצד אעשה להן לישראל אם אומר לו תן לי פדיונך וצא יאמר לי כבר פדאני בן לוי,מה עשה הביא עשרים ושנים אלפים פיתקין וכתב עליהן בן לוי ועל שלשה ושבעים ומאתים כתב עליהן חמשה שקלים בללן ונתנן בקלפי אמר להן טלו פיתקיכם מי שעלה בידו בן לוי אמר לו כבר פדאך בן לוי מי שעלה בידו חמשת שקלים אמר לו תן פדיונך וצא,רבי שמעון אומר במחנה נשתיירו בשעה שאמר לו הקב"ה למשה אספה לי שבעים איש אמרו אלדד ומידד אין אנו ראויין לאותה גדולה אמר הקב"ה הואיל ומיעטתם עצמכם הריני מוסיף גדולה על גדולתכם ומה גדולה הוסיף להם שהנביאים כולן נתנבאו ופסקו והם נתנבאו ולא פסקו,ומה נבואה נתנבאו אמרו משה מת יהושע מכניס את ישראל לארץ אבא חנין אומר משום רבי אליעזר על עסקי שליו הן מתנבאים עלי שליו עלי שליו,רב נחמן אמר על עסקי גוג ומגוג היו מתנבאין שנאמר (יחזקאל לח, ג) כה אמר ה' אלהים האתה הוא אשר דברתי בימים קדמונים ביד עבדי נביאי ישראל הנבאים בימים ההם שנים להביא אותך עליהם וגו' אל תיקרי שנים אלא שנים ואיזו הן שנים נביאים שנתנבאו בפרק אחד נבואה אחת הוי אומר אלדד ומידד,אמר מר כל הנביאים כולן נתנבאו ופסקו והן נתנבאו ולא פסקו מנא לן דפסקו אילימא מדכתיב (במדבר יא, כה) ויתנבאו ולא יספו אלא מעתה (דברים ה, יח) קול גדול ולא יסף ה"נ דלא אוסיף הוא אלא דלא פסק הוא,אלא הכא כתיב ויתנבאו התם כתיב (במדבר יא, כז) מתנבאים עדיין מתנבאים והולכים,בשלמא למ"ד משה מת היינו דכתיב (במדבר יא, כח) אדוני משה כלאם אלא למ"ד הנך תרתי מאי אדני משה כלאם דלאו אורח ארעא דהוה ליה כתלמיד המורה הלכה לפני רבו,בשלמא למ"ד הנך תרתי היינו דכתיב מי יתן אלא למ"ד משה מת מינח הוה ניחא ליה לא סיימוה קמיה,מאי כלאם א"ל הטל עליהן צרכי ציבור והן כלין מאיליהן:,מניין להביא עוד שלשה:,סוף סוף לרעה ע"פ שנים לא משכחת לה אי אחד עשר מזכין ושנים עשר מחייבין אכתי חד הוא אי עשרה מזכין ושלשה עשר מחייבין תלתא הוו א"ר אבהו אי אתה מוצא אלא במוסיפין ודברי הכל ובסנהדרי גדולה ואליבא דרבי יהודה דאמר שבעים,וא"ר אבהו במוסיפין עושין ב"ד שקול לכתחילה פשיטא מהו דתימא האי דקאמר איני יודע כמאן דאיתיה דמי ואי אמר מילתא שמעינן ליה קמ"ל דהאי דקאמר איני יודע כמאן דליתיה דמי ואי אמר טעמא לא שמעינן ליה,אמר רב כהנא סנהדרי שראו כולן לחובה פוטרין אותו מ"ט כיון דגמירי הלנת דין למעבד ליה זכותא והני תו לא חזו ליה,א"ר יוחנן אין מושיבין בסנהדרי אלא בעלי קומה ובעלי חכמה ובעלי מראה ובעלי זקנה ובעלי כשפים ויודעים בע' לשון שלא תהא סנהדרי שומעת מפי המתורגמן,אמר רב יהודה אמר רב אין מושיבין בסנהדרין אלא מי שיודע לטהר את השרץ מה"ת אמר רב אני אדון ואטהרנו | 17a. bwith you”(Numbers 11:16), i.e., they will stand b“with you,” and youare to be counted bwith them,leading to a total number of seventy-one. bAnd Rabbi Yehudaholds that the term b“with you”is mentioned bdue to the Divine Presencethat rested on Moses. According to Rabbi Yehuda, Moses was instructed to remain with the seventy Elders in order for the Divine Presence to rest upon them as well. He was not formally part of their court and therefore the number of Sages on the Great Sanhedrin is seventy.,The Gemara asks: bAndhow would bthe Rabbisrespond to this line of reasoning? The Gemara answers: bThe verse states: “And they shall bear the burden of the people with you”(Numbers 11:17), which indicates: b“With you,” and youare to be counted bwith them. Andhow would bRabbi Yehudarespond to that? He would explain that the term b“with you”means bsimilar to you,meaning, that the Elders appointed to the court had to be of fit lineage and free of blemish, like Moses., bAndfrom where do bthe Rabbisderive that ihalakha /i? They bderive it fromwhat was stated with regard to the appointment of the ministers of thousands and the ministers of hundreds: b“And they shall make it easier for you, and bear the burden with you”(Exodus 18:22), understanding the term “with you” to mean: Similar to you. bAndthe ihalakhaof the judges of bthe Great Sanhedrinof seventy bis derived fromthe ihalakhaof the judges of bthe lesser Sanhedrin,i.e., those ministers, that Moses appointed.,§ Apropos the appointment of the Elders by Moses, the Gemara discusses additional aspects of that event. There were seventy-two candidates for Elder but only seventy were needed. They were chosen by lots with their names put into a box. bThe Sages taught:The verse states: b“And there remained two men in the camp;the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad, and the spirit rested upon them, and they were among those who were written but who did not go out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp” (Numbers 11:26). Where did they remain? bSome saythis means bthey,i.e., their names, bremainedexcluded from those selected from the lots bin the box. /b,The ibaraitaexplains: bAt the time that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: “Gather for Me seventy men of the Elders of Israel”(Numbers 11:16), bMoses said: How shall I doit? If bI select six from each and every tribe, there will bea total of seventy-two, which will be btwo extra.But if bI select five from each and every tribe, there will bea total of sixty, blacking ten.And if bI select six from this tribe and five from that tribe, I will bring about envy between the tribes,as those with fewer representatives will resent the others., bWhat did he do? He selected sixfrom every tribe band he brought seventy-two slips [ ipitakin /i]. On seventyof them bhe wrote: Elder, and he left twoof them bblank. He mixed them and placed them in the box. Hethen bsaid tothe seventy-two chosen candidates: bCome and draw your slips. Everyone whose hand drew upa slip that said: bElder, he saidto him: bHeaven has already sanctified you.And beveryone whose hand drew upa bblankslip, bhe saidto him: bThe Omnipresent does not desire you; what can I do for you? /b,The Gemara comments: bYoucan bsaysomething bsimilar to thisto explain the verse about the redemption of the firstborn by the Levites: “Take the Levites in place of all of the firstborn of the children of Israel…and as for the redemption of the 273 of the firstborn of the children of Israel who are in excess over the number of the Levites… byou shall take five shekels per head”(Numbers 3:45–47). It can be explained that bMoses said: How shall I dothis bfor the Jews? If I say toone of the firstborns: bGive memoney for byour redemption andyou may bleave,as you are among the 273 extra firstborns, bhe will say to me: A Levite already redeemed me;what is the reason you think that I am among those who were not redeemed?, bWhat did he do? He brought 22,000 slips ( /bsee Numbers 3:39), band he wrote on them: Levite, and on 273additional ones bhe wrote: Five shekels. He mixed them up and placed them in a box. He said to them: Draw your slips. Everyone whose hand drew upa slip that said: bLevite, he said to him: A Levite already redeemed you. Everyone whose hand drew upa slip that said: bFive shekels, he said to him: Pay your redemptionmoney and you may bleave. /b, bRabbi Shimon says:Eldad and Medad bremained in the camp,as they did not want to come to the lottery for the Elders. bAt the time that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Gather for me seventy Elders, Eldad and Medad said: We are not fitting for thatlevel of bgreatness;we are not worthy of being appointed among the Elders. bThe Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Since you have made yourselves humble, I will add greatness to your greatness. And what isthe bgreatnessthat bhe added to them?It was bthat all of the prophets,meaning the other Elders, who were given prophecy, bprophesiedfor a time bandthen bstoppedprophesying, bbut they prophesied and did not stop. /b,Apropos Eldad and Medad being prophets, the Gemara asks: bAnd what prophecy did they prophesy? They said: Moses will die,and bJoshua will bring the Jewish people into EretzYisrael. bAbba Ḥanin says in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: They prophesied about the matter of the quailthat came afterward (Numbers 11:31–33), saying: bArise quail, arise quail,and then the quail came., bRav Naḥman says: They were prophesying about the matter of Gog and Magog, as it is statedwith regard to Gog and Magog: b“So says the Lord God: Are you the one of whom I spoke in ancient days, through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years [ ishanim /i] that I would bring you against them?”(Ezekiel 38:17). bDo not readit as: b“Years [ ishanim /i]”; rather,read it as: bTwo [ ishenayim /i]. And who are the two prophets who prophesied the same prophecy at the same time? You must say: Eldad and Medad. /b, bThe Master says:The ibaraitasaid: bAll of the prophets prophesied andthen bstopped, butEldad and Medad bprophesied and did not stop.The Gemara asks: bFrom where do wederive bthatthe other prophets bstoppedprophesying? bIf we sayit is bfrom that which is writtenabout them: b“And they prophesied but they did so no more [ ivelo yasafu /i]”(Numbers 11:25), that is difficult: bBut if that is so,then concerning that which is stated in relation to the giving of the Torah: “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly…with ba great voice, and it went on no more [ ivelo yasaf /i]”(Deuteronomy 5:19), bso tooshall it be understood bthatthe great voice bdid not continue? Rather,the intention there is bthat it did not stop,interpreting the word iyasafuas related to isof /i, meaning: End. Consequently, with regard to the seventy Elders as well, the word can be interpreted to mean that they did not stop prophesying., bRather,the proof is as follows: bIt is written herewith regard to the seventy Elders: b“They prophesied”(Numbers 11:25), and bit is written there:“Eldad and Medad bare prophesyingin the camp” (Numbers 11:27), from which it can be derived that bthey were continuously prophesying. /b,With regard to the content of Eldad and Medad’s prophecy, the Gemara asks: bGranted, according to the one who saystheir prophecy was that bMoses will die, this isthe reason for that bwhich is writtenthere: “And Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of Moses from his youth, answered and said: bMy master Moses, imprison them”(Numbers 11:28), as their prophecy appeared to be a rebellion against Moses. bBut according to the one who says thoseother btwoopinions with regard to the content of the prophecy, according to which their prophecy had no connection to Moses, bwhatis the reason that Joshua said: b“My master Moses, imprison them”?The Gemara answers: He said this bbecauseit is bnot proper conductfor them to prophesy publicly in close proximity to Moses, basby doing so bthey are like a student who teaches a ihalakhain his teacher’s presence,which is inappropriate.,The Gemara asks: bGranted, according to the one who says thoseother btwoopinions, bthis isthe reason for that bwhich is written:“And Moses said to him: Are you jealous for my sake? bWouldthat all of the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29). bBut according to the one who saysthat Eldad and Medad prophesied that bMoses will dieand Joshua will bring Israel into the land, bwould it have been satisfactory to Mosesthat all of the people of God would utter similar prophecies? The Gemara answers: bThey did not conclude it before him.Moses was not aware of what they had said, but only that they were prophesying.,The Gemara asks: bWhatis the meaning of: b“Imprison them [ ikela’em /i]”?The Gemara answers: Joshua bsaid to him: Placeresponsibility for the bneeds of the public upon them,so that they will be occupied like the other Elders of Israel band they will cease [ ikalin /i]prophesying, bon their own.Due to the burden of public responsibility they would not be able to be prophets.,§ The mishna derives the ihalakhathat there are twenty-three judges on a lesser Sanhedrin from the verses: “And the congregation shall judge,” and: “And the congregation shall save” (Numbers 35:24–25). The mishna understands that the term “congregation” is referring to ten judges, so that the two congregations, one in each verse, total twenty judges. The mishna then asks: bFrom whereis it derived bto bring three morejudges to the court? The mishna answers: The implication of the verse: “You shall not follow a multitude to convict” (Exodus 23:2), is that your inclination after a majority to exonerate is not like your inclination after a majority to convict, and a conviction must be by a majority of two.,The Gemara objects: bUltimately, you do not findan occurrence of the inclination bfor evil according toa majority of btwojudges. bIf elevenjudges vote to bacquitthe defendant band twelvevote to bconvict, this is stillonly a majority of bone,and bif tenvote to bacquit and thirteenvote to bconvict, they area majority of bthree.With a court of twenty-three judges, there is no possible way to convict with a majority of two. bRabbi Abbahu says: You do not findsuch a scenario bexceptin a case bwhere they addtwo additional judges because one of the judges abstained from the deliberation, the other judges are split in their decisions, and the two added judges both vote to convict. bAndthis is a possibility baccording toall itanna’im /i, band ina case tried by bthe Great Sanhedrin according tothe opinion bof Rabbi Yehuda, who saysthere are bseventyjudges on the Great Sanhedrin. With an even number, it is possible to have a majority of two., bAnd Rabbi Abbahu says: When they addadditional judges, they bcreate a courtconsisting of ban evennumber of judges iab initio /i.The Gemara asks: Isn’t that bobvious?What is the novelty in Rabbi Abbahu’s statement? The Gemara answers: bLest you say: Thisjudge bwho says: I do not know, isviewed bas one who isstill bthere, and if he says somethingafterward, bwe listen to himand include him in the count, so there are actually an odd number of judges on the court; therefore, Rabbi Abbahu bteaches us that thisjudge bwho says: I do not know, isviewed bas one who is notstill bthere, and if he says a reasonto rule in a certain manner afterward, bwe do not listen to him.Consequently, the court consists of an even number of judges.,§ bRav Kahana says:In ba Sanhedrin where allthe judges bsawfit bto convictthe defendant in a case of capital law, they bacquit him.The Gemara asks: bWhat is the reasoningfor this ihalakha /i? It is bsinceit bis learnedas a tradition that bsuspension of the trialovernight is necessary in order bto createa possibility of bacquittal.The ihalakhais 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. bAndas bthosejudges all saw fit to convict him they bwill not seeany bfurtherpossibility to acquit bhim,because there will not be anyone arguing for such a verdict. Consequently, he cannot be convicted.,§ bRabbi Yoḥa says:They bplace on theGreat bSanhedrin onlymen bofhigh bstature, and of wisdom, and ofpleasant bappearance, and ofsuitable bageso that they will be respected. bAndthey must also be bmasters of sorcery,i.e., they know the nature of sorcery, so that they can judge sorcerers, bandthey must bknowall bseventy languagesin order bthat the Sanhedrin will notneed to bheartestimony bfrom the mouth of a translatorin a case where a witness speaks a different language., bRav Yehuda saysthat bRav says:They bplace on the Sanhedrin only one who knowshow bto rendera carcass of ba 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. bRav said: I will discussthe ihalakhaof the creeping animal band render it pure,i.e., I am able to demonstrate how it is possible to construct such a proof: |
