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Text Excerpt
אשכחן אבות לבנים, ובנים לאבות.
§ The Talmud resumes its discussion of the source for the disqualification of relatives from bearing witness. From the fact that the verse: “The fathers should not be put to death for the children” (Deuteronomy 24:16), is not phrased in the singular, i.e., A father should not be put to death for his child, it is derived that not only are a father and child disqualified from bearing witness about one another, but closely related relatives, i.e., brothers, are also disqualified from bearing witness about each other’s children. Consequently, we found a source for the disqualification of fathers from bearing witness about their children or the children of their brothers, and for the disqualification of children from bearing witness about their fathers or their fathers’ brothers.
וכל שכן אבות להדדי.
And all the more so, the related fathers, e.g., brothers, are disqualified from bearing witness about each other, as they are certainly more closely related to each other than are a nephew and an uncle.
בנים לבנים – מנלן?
But from where do we derive that one brother’s children cannot bear witness about the children of the other brother?
אם כן, ליכתוב קרא: ״לא יומתו אבות על בן״! מאי ״בנים״? דאפילו בנים להדדי.
The Talmud answers: If so, if the children of one brother can bear witness about the children of the other brother, let the verse write: The fathers should not be put to death for the child. For what reason is “children” written, in the plural? It is derived from here that even children of brothers are disqualified from bearing witness about each other.
אשכחן בנים להדדי, בנים לעלמא מנלן?
We found a source for the halakha that the children of brothers cannot bear witness about each other. From where do we derive that the children of brothers cannot bear witness together about others?