Sanhedrin 4A

ורבנן: ״ירשיען״ כתיב.

And how would the Rabbis respond to R' Yehuda HaNasi’s proof? They would say that although the term: “should condemn” is pronounced as a plural verb, it is written in a way that could also be read in the singular. Consequently, one cannot derive a requirement for more than one judge from there.

אמר רבי יצחק בר יוסי אמר רבי יוחנן: רבי, ורבי יהודה בן רועץ, ובית שמאי, ורבי שמעון, ורבי עקיבא ⁠– כולהו סבירא להו יש אם למקרא.

§ The dispute between R' Yehuda HaNasi and the rabbis is explained as an example of the more general question of whether the written consonantal text or the vocalization of the Torah is authoritative. As R' Yitzḥak bar Yosei says that R' Yoḥanan says: With regard to R' Yehuda HaNasi, R' Yehuda ben Roetz, Beit Shammai, R' Shimon, and R' Akiva, they all hold that the vocalization of the Torah is authoritative, and that the halakha is therefore decided based on the meaning of the word as pronounced, and not on possible alternative readings of the written text.

רבי, הא דאמרן.

The Talmud explains the basis for R' Yoḥanan’s assertion with regard to each of the tanna’im that he mentioned: With regard to R' Yehuda HaNasi, the proof is that which we have just said, with regard to the interpretation of the verse: “He whom the court should condemn” (Exodus 22:8) deriving a requirement for 5 judges in cases of monetary law based on the vocalized plural pronunciation of the term: “should condemn.”

ורבי יהודה בן רועץ, דתניא: שאלו תלמידים את רבי יהודה בן רועץ: אקרא אני ״שבעים״, יכול תהא יולדת נקבה טמאה שבעים?

And with regard to R' Yehuda ben Roetz, it is as it is taught in a baraita: His students asked R' Yehuda ben Roetz: The verse states: “But if she gives birth to a female, then she should be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstrual impurity; and she should then continue in the blood of purification for 66 days” (Leviticus 12:5). Based on the written consonantal text, I can read the amount of time she is impure as: “70 [shivim] days,” and not as: “Two weeks [shevuayim].” One might have thought, therefore, that a woman who gives birth to a female should be impure for 70 days.