Study Shevuot folio 30B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אי נמי לשודא דדייני.
Alternatively, Rav Yosef informed me that Rav Ulla is a Torah scholar with regard to circumstances where the ruling is not clear-cut and the decision is rendered based on the discretion of the judges, that is, when the court is unable to rule solely based on the testimony presented in court and the judges arrive at their ruling based on their sense of the matter. Rav Yosef informed Rav Naḥman that if the case is decided based on judicial discretion, Rav Ulla is worthy of having the decision ruled in his favor.
אמר עולא: מחלוקת בבעלי דינין; אבל בעדים – דברי הכל בעמידה, דכתיב: ״ועמדו שני האנשים״. אמר רב הונא: מחלוקת בשעת משא ומתן; אבל בשעת גמר דין – דברי הכל דיינין בישיבה ובעלי דינין בעמידה, דכתיב: ״וישב משה לשפט את העם ויעמד העם״.
§ Ulla says: The dispute between the Rabbis and R' Yehuda with regard to the obligation to stand in court is only with regard to the litigants; but with regard to the witnesses, everyone agrees that they testify while standing, as it is written: “Then the two men should stand” (Deuteronomy 19:17). Rav Huna says: The dispute whether the litigants are required to stand is only at the time of the deliberation, but at the time of the verdict, everyone agrees that the judges issue the verdict while sitting and the litigants receive the verdict while standing, as it is written: “And Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood” (Exodus 18:13).
לישנא אחרינא: מחלוקת בשעת משא ומתן, אבל בשעת גמר דין – דברי הכל דיינין בישיבה ובעלי דינין בעמידה; דהא עדים כגמר דין דמו, וכתיב בהו: ״ועמדו שני האנשים״.
The Talmud presents an alternative version of the statement of Rav Huna: The dispute whether the litigants are required to stand is only at the time of the deliberation, but at the time of the verdict, everyone agrees that the judges issue the verdict while sitting and the litigants receive the verdict while standing, as concerning the witnesses, the status of the stage of their testimony is like that of the stage of the verdict, and it is written concerning them: “Then the two men should stand.”