Study Sanhedrin folio 87A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
במופלא שבבית דין הכתוב מדבר. ״ממך״ – זה יועץ, וכן הוא אומר: ״ממך יצא חשב על ה׳ רעה יעץ בליעל״. ״דבר״ – זו הלכה. ״למשפט״ – זה הדין.
it is with regard to the most distinguished [mufla] member of the court, an ordained, expert judge, that the verse is speaking. “For you [mimmekha]”; this is a reference to an adviser, who is consulted with regard to significant matters, e.g., intercalation of the year; and likewise it says: “From you [mimmekh] he emerged, who devised evil against YHWH, an adviser of wickedness” (Nahum 1:11). “A matter”; this halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. “In judgment”; this is a logical inference, which is one of the hermeneutical principles.
״בין דם לדם״ – בין דם נדה, דם לידה, דם זיבה. ״בין דין לדין״ – בין דיני נפשות, דיני ממונות, דיני מכות. ״בין נגע לנגע״ – בין נגעי אדם, נגעי בתים, נגעי בגדים.
“Between blood and blood”; this is the ability to discern between the disparate halakhot relevant to the blood of a menstruating woman, the blood of childbirth, and the blood of a gonorrhea-like discharge [ziva]. “Between plea and plea”; this is the ability to discern between cases of capital law and cases of monetary law, with regard to which there are differences in evidence protocols, and laws involving the liability to receive lashes. “Between mark and mark”; this is the ability to discern between the disparate halakhot relevant to leprous marks of a person, leprous marks on houses, and leprous marks on garments (see Leviticus, chapter 14).
״דברי״ – אלו החרמים, והערכין, וההקדשות. ״ריבת״ – זו השקאת סוטה, ועריפת עגלה, וטהרת מצורע. ״בשעריך״ – זו לקט, שכחה, ופאה.
“Matters of [divrei]”; these are the dedications to God or to a priest, and the valuations of one’s value to the Temple, and the consecrations, all of which are matters of speech [dibbur]. “Controversy”; this is the giving of the bitter waters to a sota (see Numbers, chapter 5), which results from a dispute between husband and wife; and the heifer whose neck is broken, which results from an unresolved murder (Deuteronomy 21:1–9); and the purification of a metzora, who is afflicted due to evil speech. “Within your gates”; this is referring to gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and produce in the corner of the field [pe’a], all of which are given to the poor who eat at the gates of the city.