Study Sanhedrin folio 14A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בטלו דיני קנסות מישראל, שפעם אחת גזרה מלכות הרשעה שמד על ישראל – שכל הסומך יהרג, וכל הנסמך יהרג, ועיר שסומכין בה תיחרב, ותחומין שסומכין בהן יעקרו.
the laws of fines would have ceased to be implemented from among the Jewish people, as they would not have been able to adjudicate cases involving these laws due to a lack of ordained judges. This is because at one time the wicked kingdom of Rome issued decrees of religious persecution against the Jewish people with the aim of abolishing the chain of ordination and the authority of the rabbis. They said that anyone who ordains judges will be killed, and anyone who is ordained will be killed, and the city in which they ordain the judges will be destroyed, and the signs identifying the boundaries of the city in which they ordain judges will be uprooted. These measures were intended to discourage the rabbis from performing or receiving ordination due to fear for the welfare of the local population.
מה עשה יהודה בן בבא? הלך וישב לו בין שני הרים גדולים, ובין שתי עיירות גדולות, ובין שני תחומי שבת, בין אושא לשפרעם, וסמך שם חמשה זקנים. ואלו הן: רבי מאיר, ורבי יהודה, ורבי שמעון, ורבי יוסי, ורבי אלעזר בן שמוע. רב אויא מוסיף: אף רבי נחמיה.
What did R' Yehuda ben Bava do? He went and sat between two large mountains, between two large cities, and between two Shabbat boundaries: Between Usha and Shefaram, i.e., in a desolate place that was not associated with any particular city so that he not endanger anyone not directly involved, and there he ordained 5 elders. And they were: R' Meir, and R' Yehuda, and R' Shimon, and R' Yosei, and R' Elazar ben Shammua. Rav Avya adds that R' Neḥemya was also among those ordained. This incident indicates that ordination can be performed by a single Sage.
כיון שהכירו אויביהם בהן, אמר להן: בניי, רוצו! אמרו לו: רבי, מה תהא עליך? אמר להן: הריני מוטל לפניהם כאבן שאין לה הופכים. אמרו: לא זזו משם עד שנעצו בו שלש מאות לונכיאות של ברזל ועשאוהו ככברה.
When their enemies discovered them, R' Yehuda ben Bava said to the newly ordained rabbis: My sons, run for your lives. They said to him: my teacher! what will be with you? R' Yehuda ben Bava was elderly and unable to run. He said to them: In any case, I am cast before them like a stone that cannot be overturned; even if you attempt to assist me I will not be able to escape due to my frailty, but if you do not escape without me you will also be killed. People say about this incident: The Roman soldiers did not move from there until they had inserted 300 iron spears [lunkhiyot] into him, making him appear like a sieve pierced with many holes.