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Text Excerpt
ההורג כהן גדול, או כהן גדול שהרג את הנפש – אינו יוצא משם לעולם; אימא לא ליגלי – קא משמע לן. ואימא הכי נמי? אמר קרא ״לנוס שמה כל רצח״ – אפילו כהן גדול במשמע.
With regard to one who kills a High Priest or a High Priest who killed a person, he never departs from the city of refuge. Therefore, I will say that a High Priest is not exiled at all. For that reason, the baraita above teaches us that he is exiled. The Talmud suggests: Why not say that the halakha is indeed that the High Priest would not be exiled, since he would not be able to return home? The Talmud responds: The verse states concerning the city of refuge: “That every manslayer may flee there” (Deuteronomy 19:3), and even a High Priest is indicated by the inclusive term “every.”
עובר על עשה ועל לא תעשה. לא סגי דלא עבר? הכי קאמר: אם עבר על עשה ועל לא תעשה, הרי הוא כהדיוט לכל דבריו.
The baraita teaches that a High Priest transgresses a positive mitzva and a prohibition. The Talmud understands the baraita as an independent statement asserting that the High Priest must transgress a positive mitzva and a prohibition, and asks: Is it not possible that he doesn’t transgress a positive mitzva and prohibition; i.e., must the High Priest transgress a positive mitzva and a prohibition? The Talmud responds: This is what the baraita is saying: This is not an independent statement asserting that the High Priest must transgress a positive mitzva and a prohibition; rather, the baraita teaches that if he transgressed a positive mitzva and a prohibition, then he is considered to be like an ordinary person concerning all of his halakhot, judged just as anyone else for common transgressions.
פשיטא! סלקא דעתך אמינא, הואיל ותנן: אין דנין לא את השבט ולא את נביא השקר ולא את כהן גדול אלא על פי בית דין של שבעים ואחד, ואמר רב אדא בר אהבה: ״כל הדבר הגדל יביאו אליך״ – דבריו של גדול, אימא כל דבריו של גדול, קא משמע לן.
The Talmud asks: Isn’t that obvious? The Talmud responds: No, as it could enter your mind to say that since we learned in the Mishnah (2a): The court judges cases involving an entire tribe that sinned, or a false prophet, or a High Priest, only on the basis of a court of 71 judges, i.e., the Great Sanhedrin, and since Rav Adda bar Ahava says that the phrase “every great matter they should bring to you” (Exodus 18:22), refers to the matters of a great person, the High Priest, who is judged in a court of 71, therefore, one might say that this means all the matters of a great person, including non-capital transgressions, are judged in a court of 71. Therefore, the baraita teaches us that for non-capital transgressions, he is treated like an ordinary person, and judged even by a court of 3.