Sanhedrin 65: מקטר לשד – עובד עבודה זרה

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Our daf teaches that a witch is someone who seems to speak words from the dead through his/her armpit. A wizard is one who apparently speaks the words of the dead through his/her mouth. Both of these acts are punishable by stoning. One who asks for this service is liable to bring an offering.

The Gemara discusses why these two acts might be considered separately when they are mentioned in the Torah together.

The rabbis discuss whether or not there is a difference between these small actions and other small actions, including blasphemy. The rabbis question what "action" means. For example, is a spoken voice an action? This is particularly import in a system that relies on actions to define numerous legal realities.

We explore divination and necromancy.

Sanhedrin 64: כל חדא וחדא רווחא לחבירתה שביק

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Steinsaltz "We are well aware that the longing for avoda zara that we find in the stories of the first Temple period in Tanakh, does not affect our community today.

What happened to this yearning for idol worship? In today’s world it is difficult to understand the attraction that biblical idol worship held for the Jewish people. The Gemara on our daf attempts to answer this question by means of a metaphor.

In doing so the rabbis claimed the yetzer ha-ra of avoda zara – the lust and desire for idol worship – still remained.

We review the sin of baal Peor from its sitz im leben in the ancient near east.

Sanhedrin 63: כל המשתף שם שמים ודבר אחר

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As we learned in the Mishna (60b), while various types of idol worship are punishable by death, other interactions with idols are merely lavin – negative commandments – whose perpetrators are liable for lashes.

One example of the latter type is someone who uses the name of such a deity to take an oath or to fulfill an oath that was taken.

According to the Gemara on our daf the source for this law is the passage in Sefer Shemot (23:13) ve-shem elohim aḥerim lo tazkiru, lo yishama al pikhah – and the name of a foreign god you should not mention, it should not be heard on your mouth.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai to him: But isn’t anyone who links the name of Heaven and something else, a euphemism for an idol, uprooted from the world? As it is stated:

“He who sacrifices to the gods, save to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed” (Exodus 22:19). The fact that the Jewish people included God in their idolatrous statement could not have saved them from destruction.

We explore the idea of linking the divine with other deities or syncretism in antiquity.

Sanhedrin 62: פוק תני לברא!

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If someone performs several different acts of avoda zara and he was unaware that they were forbidden – will he be obligated to bring a single sin-offering or one for each act that he performed?

The Gemara on our daf relates that Rabbi Yoḥanan was presented with a baraita that discusses this question in the context of a similar discussion regarding Shabbat. Hearing the baraita, Rabbi Yoḥanan responded pok teni libara – “go teach that outside” – please do not bring unreliable baraitot into the study hall.

We continue our analysis of avodah zarah and the way it transformed over time.

Sanhedrin 61: דיבורא מילתא היא

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As we have seen on the previous dapim, avoda zara is a serious prohibition, one that could make one liable to receive a death penalty. The Gemara on today’s daf raises a question about someone who performs idol worship me-ahavah u’me-yirah – because of love or because of fear.

According to the Gemara, Abaye believes that such worship is considered to be ordinary worship for which a person would be held liable, while according to Rava he would not be held responsible.

Many approaches are offered to explain what worship me-ahavah u’me-yirah might mean.

We explore concepts of biblical idolatry and later iterations thereof in Kabbalah.

Sanhedrin 60: הזורק אבן למרקוליס – זו היא עבודתה

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When discussing idol worship, there are certain activities that are considered to be objectively an act of worship and will be forbidden, while other activities may be specific and limited to a certain type of idol. According to the Mishna on our daf a person will be held liable for avoda zara – the prohibition against idol worship – when he performs any one of a number of acts of worship.

These activities include commonly used methods of veneration including sacrificing or burning incense, offering a libation or bowing down, and even simply saying “you are my god.” Other types of obsequiousness, such as hugging and kissing the idol, washing or cleaning it and so on would be forbidden, but would not serve as true idol worship.

Markulis is the name given by the Sages for the Roman god Mercury, who was also known as the Greek deity, Hermes. Among his many responsibilities, Mercury was the patron of the highways and travelers. This position led many to erect statues of him on crossroads. Oftentimes, these representations presented just the head of the idol and passersby would place stones at the foot of the statue. On occasion the representation was simply a pile of rocks, and travelers who passed by the pile would toss their own stone on it as an offering to the god.

Sanhedrin 59: והיו מלאכי השרת צולין לו בשר ומסננין לו יין

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Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav: Adam was not permitted to eat meat. This is as the verse states: for you it (the vegetation) will be yours for food, and for all the animals of the land.

This implies that the animals are not given for man to eat. When the sons of Noach arrived, Hashem permitted this, as the verse says: I have given you everything (including animals) to be like the stalks of grass. One would think they did not have to keep the prohibition against eating a limb of a live animal.

We explore the possibility of a return to vegetarianism in light of torah values.

Sanhedrin 58: אין לו תקנה אלא קבורה

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While the Torah anticipates that non-Jews will also follow a legal code of behavior consisting of the sheva mitzvot benei Noaḥ – the seven Noachide laws – the Torah neither requires nor condones non-Jews mimicking the behaviors of Jews.

A number of rabbis speak about physical discipline or hitting in anger in other circumstances. It is said that Rav Huna cut off the hand of a person who habitually hit others.

Sanhedrin 57: אזהרה שלהן – זו היא מיתתן

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Gentiles are killed for participating in forbidden sexual relationships, for murder, and for blasphemy. The rabbis argue about whether these three crimes are always punishable by death. They also argue about whether these are the only three crimes punishable by death. A large part of this conversation focuses on different acts of theft and how those acts might be punished if not with capital punishment.

We explore the noachide laws and their application in Jewish Gentile relations in antiquity.

Sanhedrin 56: כישוף – בן נח מוזהר עליו

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We usually think of the Torah as commanding the Jewish People to live according to its laws. What responsibilities and obligations do the Torah command non-Jews to perform?

The Gemara on our daf quotes a baraita that teaches the laws of the sheva mitzvot benei Noaḥ – the seven Noachide laws.

We explore the Siniatic vs Noachide legal system.

Sanhedrin 55: בעינא שם בשם

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The last Mishna on our daf introduces the law that applies to a megaddef – someone who commits blasphemy by cursing God.

According to the Mishna, a megaddef will not be held liable for his blasphemy until he clearly utters the Name of God.

The source for the term megaddef appears in Sefer Bamidbar 15:30, although the simple meaning of the word as it appears there does not refer to cursing or blasphemy – most of the commentaries understand that that is a reference to someone who practices avoda zara – idol worship. The Sages, however, never want to make use of the term “cursing” in the context of cursing God.

We explore the parameters of the blasphemer from its ancient near eastern sources.

Sanhedrin 54: לא עשו בו קטן כגדול

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According to the Mishna on our daf, one of the biblical prohibitions that would lead to the punishment of sekilah – death by stoning – is bestiality.

Thus, sexual relations by a man or a woman with an animal is forbidden by the Torah, and such an act is punishable by death – for both the person and the animal that was involved

We explore the tortuous subject of homosexuality in Halacha and modernity.

Sanhedrin 53: אין קידושין תופסין בחייבי לאוין

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Among the biblical prohibitions that would lead to a death sentence according to Torah law are cases of incest. The Mishna on our daf lists those situations – like sexual relations with one’s mother, one’s father’s wife or one’s daughter-in-law – that lead to the punishment of sekilah – of death by stoning.

We explore the laws of Aragon and the dramatic difference between biblical and rabbinic attitudes to Aragon and rape.

Sanhedrin 52: ומדליק את הפתילה

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Our daf is particularly difficult to read. It describes the critical steps of executions and the deaths of those sentenced to death. Our daf presents these morbid description in a few distinct categories with a number of Mishnayot.

The rabbis note that each of these methods of execution are named mitzvot. This is because they are commandments and thus good things to do. Clearly the rabbis also have some discomfort with the descriptions of executions as positive things.

Weexplore early American methods of execution.

Sanhedrin 51: הלכתא למשיחא

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"Rav Naḥman says that Rabba bar Avuh says that Rav says: The halakha in this matter is in accordance with the explanation that Ravin sent in the name of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina. Rav Yosef said in response: Does one issue a halakha for the messianicperiod? Since the destruction of the Temple, courts do not have the authority to adjudicate capital cases (see 52b), and this authority will be restored only once the Temple is rebuilt, in the messianic period. Therefore, what is the purpose of stating the halakha in this matter when it is not currently relevant?”

We explore the use of studying halachic rulings in a theoretical vacuum and the notion of Halacha in Messianic times.

Sanhedrin 50: בת כהן שזינתה

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The Gemara on our daf attempts to bring sources for the severity of a given punishment based on the severity of the crime committed. For example, Sekilah is considered to be the most severe punishment since it is the punishment given to someone who is a blasphemer and to someone who is an idol worshiper. Since both of these sins are rebellions against God, clearly the Torah considers them to be serious crimes.

We explore the notion of human dignity as well as the etymology of the word betulah as maiden or virgin.

Sanhedrin 49: פושט ידו בעיקר עדיף

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The next Perek 7 clarifies the details of the four types of capital punishment and established their order, which is, in descending order of severity: Stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation.

What difference does the severity of the execution make? In a situation where one has committed several capital offenses, each of which renders him liable to a different type of execution - since one cannot be executed more than once - he receives the more severe execution for which he is liable.

We explore the notion of tzelem elokim and murder before and after Sinai.

Sanhedrin 48: משום מררייהו

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Are we able to benefit in any way from accessories, like a shroud, related to a dead person?

The rabbis consider a number of items including cloth, a monument, something hewed, a pouch, and a craftsman. When are times forbidden by designation, and when by action? For example, a cloth that was laid down upon by a person who is ritually impure - if that scant is designated as a Torah cover, is it affected by this new status simply by designation or by the action of wrapping the Torah?

All of this is discussed in the context of who might be buried in which places - further or closer from righteous people, mausoleums, etc.

We explore ancient burial practices and the notion of burial goods.

Sanhedrin 47: למה לי עיכול בשר

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Another issue relating to burial discussed on our daf involves the time that aveilut – the mourning period – begins. Mourning begins only after the burial is complete. According to Rav Ashi, that is only after setimat ha-golel – when the golel is sealed.

We continue our exploration of the history of the printing of the talmud that allowed for some to evade the censor.

Sanhedrin 46: קַלַּניִ מרֵאשׁי, קַלַּניִ מזִּרְוֹעי

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Many of the laws of capital punishment are derived from 2 verses in Devarim regarding the death penalty. The dead body must be buried by nightfall.

Rabbi Meir said: The phrase “for he that is hung is a curse [kilelat] of God” should be understood as follows: When a man suffers in the wake of his sin, what expression does the Divine Presence use? I am distressed [kallani] about My head, I am distressed about My arm, meaning, I, too, suffer when the wicked are punished. From here it is derived: If God suffers such distress over the blood of the wicked that is spilled, even though they justly deserved their punishment, it can be inferred a fortiori that He suffers distress over the blood of the righteous.

We explore the notion of the Schechinah suffering alongside mankind.