Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin

Folio 67a

MISHNAH. A MESITH IS A [SEDUCING] LAYMAN,²  AND HE WHO SEDUCES AN INDIVIDUAL³  SAYING, 'THERE IS AN IDOL IN SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE; IT EATS THUS, IT DRINKS THUS, IT DOES SO MUCH GOOD AND SO MUCH HARM. FOR ALL WHOM THE TORAH CONDEMNS TO DEATH NO WITNESSES ARE HIDDEN TO ENTRAP THEM, EXCEPTING FOR THIS ONE. IF HE INCITED TWO [TO IDOLATRY], THEY THEMSELVES ARE WITNESSES AGAINST HIM, AND HE IS BROUGHT TO BETH DIN AND STONED. BUT IF HE ENTICED ONE, HE MUST REPLY, I HAVE FRIENDS WHO WISH TO DO SO LIKEWISE [COME AND PROPOSE IT TO THEM TOO].' BUT IF HE WAS CUNNING AND DECLINED TO SPEAK BEFORE THEM, WITNESSES ARE HIDDEN BEHIND A PARTITION, WHILST HE WHO WAS INCITED SAYS TO HIM, MAKE YOUR PROPOSAL TO ME NOW IN PRIVATE. WHEN THE MESITH DOES SO, THE OTHER REPLIES, HOW SHALL WE FORSAKE OUR GOD IN HEAVEN TO GO AND SERVE WOOD AND STONES?' SHOULD HE RETRACT, IT IS WELL. BUT IF HE ANSWERS, 'IT IS OUR DUTY [TO WORSHIP IDOLS], AND IS SEEMLY FOR US, THEN THE WITNESSES STATIONED BEHIND THE PARTITION TAKE HIM TO BETH DIN, AND HAVE HIM STONED. IF HE SAYS, 'I WILL WORSHIP IT', OR, 'I WILL GO AND WORSHIP', OR, 'LET US GO AND WORSHIP'; OR, 'I WILL SACRIFICE [TO IT]', 'I WILL GO AND SACRIFICE', 'LET US GO AND SACRIFICE'; 'I WILL BURN INCENSE, 'I WILL GO AND BURN INCENSE'. 'LET US GO AND BURN INCENSE'; 'I WILL MAKE LIBATIONS TO IT', 'I WILL GO AND MAKE LIBATIONS TO IT, LET US GO AND MAKE LIBATIONS, 'I WILL PROSTRATE MYSELF BEFORE IT', 'I WILL GO AND PROSTRATE MYSELF'. 'LET US GO AND PROSTRATE OURSELVES'. (GUILT IS INCURRED).⁴

GEMARA. A MESITH IS A LAYMAN. Thus, only because he is a layman [is he stoned]; but if a prophet, he is strangled. WHO SEDUCES AN INDIVIDUAL: thus, only if he seduces an individual; but if a community, he is strangled. Hence, who is [the Tanna of] the Mishnah? — R. Simeon. For it has been taught: A prophet who entices [people to idolatry] is stoned; R. Simeon said: He is strangled.⁵  Then consider the second clause.⁶  A maddiah⁷  is one who says: 'Let us go and serve idols': whereon Rab Judah observed in Rab's name: This Mishnah teaches of those who lead astray a seduced city. Thus it agrees with the Rabbis [who maintain that

GEMARA. Rab Judah said in Rab's name: This Mishnah teaches of those who lead astray a seduced city.¹⁴

A SORCERER, IF HE ACTUALLY PERFORMS MAGIC etc.

Our Rabbis taught: [Thou shalt not suffer] a witch [to live]:¹⁵  this applies to both man and woman. If so, why is a [female] witch stated? — Because mostly women engage in witchcraft. How are they executed? — R. Jose the Galilean said: Here it is written, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live; whilst elsewhere is written, Thou shalt not suffer anything that breatheth to live.¹⁶  Just as there, the sword is meant, so here is the sword meant too. R. Akiba said: It is here stated, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live; whilst elsewhere it is said, [There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through;] whether it be beast or man, it shall not live.¹⁷  Just as there, death by stoning is meant, so here too. R. Jose said to him, I have drawn an analogy between 'Thou shalt not suffer to live' written in two verses, whilst you have made a comparison between 'Thou shalt not suffer to live', and 'It shall not live'. R. Akiba replied: I have drawn an analogy between two verses referring to Israelites, for whom the Writ hath decreed many modes of execution,¹⁸  whilst you have compared Israelites to heathens, in whose case only

1. I.e., in both the reference is to something done for the first time: there to coition; here to profanation. But the similarity ceases at this point.
2. Heb. hedyot. As opposed to a prophet.
3. Heb. hedyot. But not a whole community. On the Heb. term hedyot, v. p 456, nn. 2 and 3.
4. The seducer by using any one of those expressions incurs guilt and is executed; v. Rashi (supra, 61a) who refers it to the seduced person.
5. V. infra 84a.
6. I.e., the next Mishnah, which is really part of this.
7. Who is stoned, as stated in the Mishnah on 53a, of which all the subsequent Mishnahs in this chapter are explanations.
8. Lit., 'nor only this, but that also).' When the Mishnah states, [HE] WHO SEDUCES AN INDIVIDUAL, it is not intended to exclude a multitude, but merely to commence with the universally agreed law. Then the next Mishnah adds that the same applies to the seduction of a multitude, though this is not admitted by all.
9. [H], [G] rendered in Mishnah, 'LAYMAN', also means ignorant, ignoble.
10. I.e., hedyot is not used in the sense of a layman as opposed to a prophet, but in the sense of ignoble; so dastardly in his action, that he is not shewn the same consideration as other malefactors, but hidden witnesses are set to entrap him. There is no dispute between Rabina and R. Papa, both teaching that the two clauses agree with the Rabbis; but Rabina explains the phrase, 'HE WHO SEDUCES AN INDIVIDUAL', whilst R. Papa deals with 'A MESITH IS A HEDYOT'.
11. Otherwise, they could not testify.
12. In the uncensored editions of the Talmud there follows this important passage (supplied from D.S. on the authority of the Munich and Oxford Mss. and the older editions) 'And this they did to Ben Stada in Lydda ([H]), and they hung him on the eve of Passover. Ben Stada was Ben Padira. R. Hisda said: 'The husband was Stada, the paramour Pandira. But was nor the husband Pappos b. Judah? — His mother's name was Stada. But his mother was Miriam, a dresser of woman's hair? ([H] megaddela neshayia): — As they say in Pumbaditha, This woman has turned away ([H]) from her husband, (i.e., committed adultery).' T. Herford, in 'Christianity in the Talmud', pp. 37 seqq, 344 seqq, identifies this Ben Stada with Jesus of Nazareth. As to the meaning of the name, he connects it with [G] 'seditious', and suggests (p. 345 n. 1) that it originally denoted 'that Egyptian' (Acts XXI 38, Josephus, Ant. XX, 8, 6) who claimed to be a prophet and led his followers to the Mount of Olives, where he was routed by the Procurator Felix, and that in later times he might have been confused with Jeshua ha-Notzri. This hypothesis, however, involves the disregard of the Talmudic data, for Pappos b. Judah lived a century after Jesus (Git. 90a), though the mother's name, Miriam (Mary), would raise no difficulty, as [H] megaddela neshayia may be the result of a confusion with Mary Magdalene (v. also Box, The Virgin Birth of Jesus, pp. 201f, for other possible meanings of Ben Stada and Ben Pandira) Derenbourg (Essai note 9, pp. 465-471) rightly denies the identity of Ben Stada with Jesus, and regards him simply as a false prophet executed during the second century at Lydda.
13. I.e., the illusion of doing something, whereas in fact he does nothing.
14. Cf. supra 53a.
15. Ex. XXII, 17.
16. Deut. XX, 17. This refers to the war of extermination against the seven races inhabiting Canaan before the Conquest by Joshua. They would naturally be killed by the sword.
17. Ex. XIX, 13. This refers to the taboo placed upon Mount Sinai before the Theophany.
18. And yet at Sinai stoning was chosen.

Sanhedrin 67b

R. Johanan said: Why are they [sorcerers] called Kashshafim?⁹  — Because they lessen the power of the Divine agencies.¹⁰

There is none else besides Him:¹¹  R. Hanina said: Even by sorcery.¹²  A woman once attempted to take earth from under R. Hanina's feet.¹³  He said to her, 'If you succeed in your attempts, go and practise it [sc. sorcery]: it is written, however, There is none else beside him'. But that is not so, for did not R. Johanan say: Why are they called mekashshefim?¹⁴  Because they lessen the power of the Divine agencies? — R. Hanina was in a different category, owing to his abundant merit.¹⁵

R. Abaye b. Nagri said in the name of R. Hiyya b. Abba: Belatehem refers to magic through the agency of demons, belahatehem to sorcery [without outside help].¹⁶  And thus it is also said, And the flame [Heb. lahat] of the sword that turns of itself.¹⁷

Abaye said: The sorcerer who insists on exact paraphernalia¹⁸  works through demons; he who does not works by pure enchantment.

Abaye said: The laws of sorcerers are like those of the Sabbath: certain actions are punished by stoning, some are exempt from punishment, yet forbidden, whilst others are entirely permitted. Thus: if one actually performs magic, he is stoned; if he merely creates an illusion, he is exempt, yet it is forbidden; whilst what is

R. Ashi said: I saw Karna's father²⁰  blow his nose violently and streamers of silk issued from his nostrils.

Then the magicians said unto Pharoah, This is the finger of God:²¹  R. Eleazar, said: This proves that a magician cannot produce a creature less than a barley corn in size. R. Papa said: By God! he cannot produce even something as large as a camel; but these [larger than a barley corn] he can [magically] collect [and so produce the illusion that he has magically created them], the others he cannot.

Rab said to R. Hiyya: 'I myself saw an Arabian traveller take a sword and cut up a camel; then he rang a bell, at which the camel arose.' He replied, 'After that, was there any blood or dung? But that was merely an illusion.'

Ze'iri happened to go to Alexandria in Egypt and bought an ass. When he was about to water it, it dissolved, and there stood before him a landing board.²²  The vendors then said to him; 'Were you not Ze'iri, we would not return you [your money]: does anyone buy anything here without first testing it by water?'²³

Jannai²⁴  came to an inn. He said to them, 'Give me a drink of

And the frog came up, and covered the land of Egypt.²⁷  R. Eleazar said: It was one frog, which bred prolifically and filled the land. This is a matter disputed by Tannaim. R. Akiba said: There was one frog which filled the whole of Egypt [by breeding]. But R. Eleazar b. Azariah said to him, 'Akiba, What hast thou to do with Haggadah?²⁸  Cease thy words and devote thyself to 'Leprosies' and 'Tents.'²⁹  One frog croaked for the others, and they came'.

R. AKIBA SAID, etc.

1. Viz., decapitation. Consequently, no true analogy is possible.
2. His full name was Simeon b. 'Azzai. There were four companions each named Simeon, so for short they were referred to by their patronym (Rashi in Ab. IV, 1).
3. Ex. XXII, 19.
4. R. Judah does not regard the proximity of two subjects, [H] as a method of exegesis.
5. I.e., in the verse, Thou shalt not suffer a sorcerer to live.
6. In Lev. XX, 27.
7. This is in accordance with the exegetical principle that if a general proposition is stated, and then one part thereof is singled out for special mention, the latter illumines the former; but not if two are singled out. For if they were intended to convey a teaching with respect to the proposition as a whole, only one should have been singled out, from which the second (together with the rest of the general statement) would be derived.
8. R. Judah does not agree with the limitation expressed above, and it is precisely from this verse that he deduces that even two statements may be singled out to convoy a teaching for the whole; v. Kid. 35a.
9. [H]
10. I.e., making incantations of death against those for whom Heaven has decreed life (Rashi); and in general seeking to interfere with the course of events as decreed from above. The word is treated as an abbreviation, thus Keshafim, Kahash, Famalia, Ma'alah. (Lessens [the] Family on High).
11. Deut. IV, 35.
12. I.e., not even sorcerers have power to oppose His decree.
13. To perform magic against him.
14. [H] Hebrew form of Kashshafim.
15. Therefore God should certainly not permit any sorcerer to harm him.
16. In the references to Pharoah's magicians, two words are employed to denote their art: belatehem, ([H]) e.g., Ex. VII, 22 (with their enchantments); and belahatehem ([H]) Ex. VII, 11.
17. Gen. III, 24, thus lahat is referred to an action taking place of itself; similarly, belahatehem connotes sorcery performed without extraneous aid.
18. Demanding particular properties for different kinds of magic.
19. V. p 446, nn. 9, 10. It thus all depends as to whose help is invoked in performing the miraculous.
20. He was a magician.
21. Ex. VIII, 19; this refers to the plague of lice, which they could not imitate.
22. The ass had been a product of sorcery, created out of a landing board. Things thus created reverted to their original form when brought into contact with water.
23. The scholars of the first century referred frequently to Egypt as the original home of magic arts (Blau, Das aljudische Zauberwesen, pp. 37-49). Sorcery was very rife in Alexandria, and was practised by Jews too, who were more influenced by pagan ideas in this city than in any other place of their dispersion. Among the less intelligent, Jewish and pagan, witchcraft were freely indulged in (Schurer, Geschichte, 3rd ed., III, 294-304). It is not clear in this passage whether Ze'iri had bought the ass from a Jew or Gentile, but the fact that such particular respect was shewn to him would seem to indicate that the vendor was a Jew.
24. Rashi observes that this is the reading, not R. Jannai; for a scholar would not practise witchcraft.
25. A drink prepared of flour and water. Cf. Lat. ptisanarium, a decoction of barley groats
26. By this he recognised her to be a witch, probably muttering a charm.
27. Ex. VIII, 6.
28. Haggadah, also aggadah, from Nagad, to narrate, denotes the narrative, and homiletical portions of the Talmud.
29. [Nega'im and Ohaloth, two subjects in the Talmud and name of two tractates dealing respectively with uncleanliness of a corpse and leprosy, subjects of extreme difficulty and thus suited to R. Akiba's keen dialetics.]