Sanhedrin 36 - January 22, 22 Tevet

Today's daf is sponsored by Becki Goldstein in loving memory of her father, Cantor Yoel ben Meir Fromm. "A lone survivor who served his kehilla in Canada devotedly. His advice to me, spiced with midrashim, encouraged my learning and independent thinking. My grandchildren are his legacy. I miss his nigunim and stories. He was my guiding light." Abaye proposes a kal v'chomer argument regarding someone sentenced to death who is working in the Temple: if he is engaged in communal sacrifices, he should not be taken for execution. He interprets the verse, "From my altar you will be taken to be killed" (Shmot 21:14) as referring only to individual sacrifices. Rava challenges this interpretation, noting that since some authorities permit individual offerings on Yom Tov, one cannot differentiate between communal and individual sacrifices on this basis, as both override Shabbat/Yom Tov while execution does not. According to that opinion, accepting Abaye's kal v'chomer would render the verse meaningless, as execution would never override Temple service. Rava therefore concludes that court-ordered execution takes precedence over all Temple service. In Rabbi Yehuda haNasi's court, Rav would speak first in monetary cases, despite the rule that the most senior judge should begin deliberations. Rava's son explains that this exception was due to Rabbi Yehuda haNasi's unique status - from Moshe until his time, no one matched his combined greatness in both political leadership and Torah scholarship. While the Gemara suggests other potential candidates from this period, each is dismissed because they had contemporaries of equal stature. Rav Ada bar Ahava notes that this singular combination of political and Torah leadership remained unmatched from Rabbi Yehuda haNasi until Rav Ashi. The Gemara brings two verses supporting the Mishna's requirement that in capital cases, deliberations begin with the junior judge. It then addresses Rav's ruling that a teacher can instruct his student about a case and later both can serve as judges. This seems to conflict with Tosefta Sanhedrin 7:2, which states that in capital cases, a teacher-student pair counts as one vote since the student's opinion is influenced by the teacher. The Gemara resolves this by distinguishing between different types of teacher-student relationships. Rabbi Abahu rules that while a case of an ox that killed a person requires twenty-three judges, other aspects follow monetary rather than capital case procedures. He references ten differences between monetary and capital cases in the Mishna, though the Gemara initially counts only nine, resolving the discrepancy by citing an additional difference from the Tosefta. The Gemara then examines why converts and mamzerim are disqualified from judging capital cases, questioning why each disqualification requires its own derivation. It also explores the source for disqualifying witnesses based on lineage.  The semicircular arrangement of the twenty-three-judge Sanhedrin enabled all judges to see each other and the witnesses. How many scribes were there to record the judges' opinions during the deliberations?