Shevuot 34B

ועדים רואין אותו מבחוץ, מאי?

and witnesses see him counting the money from outside, what is the halakha? Is their testimony accepted?

אמר ליה רב המנונא: והלה מה טוען? אי אמר: ״לא היו דברים מעולם״⁠ – הוחזק כפרן! אי אמר: ״אין, שקלי ⁠– ודידי שקלי״⁠ – כי אתו עדים מאי הוי? אמר ליה: המנונא את? עול תא.

Rav Hamnuna said to Rav Yehuda: And what does the other person claim in response to the demand for repayment? If he says: These matters never happened, he assumes the presumptive status of a denier of the truth, as the witnesses testify that they saw the claimant counting the money and giving it to him. If he says: Yes, I took money from him, but it is my money that I took, then when the witnesses come and testify that they saw the claimant counting the money and giving it to him, what of it? The testimony of the witnesses does not contradict his claim, as the witnesses do not know the circumstances under which the money changed hands. Rav Yehuda said to him: Are you Hamnuna? Enter and come into the study hall, as you make your teacher wiser.

ההוא דאמר ליה לחבריה: ״מנה מניתי לך בצד עמוד זה״, אמר ליה: ״לא עברתי בצד עמוד זה״. אתו תרי סהדי, אסהידו ביה דהשתין מים בצד עמוד זה. אמר ריש לקיש: הוחזק כפרן.

The Talmud relates a similar incident: There was a certain individual who said to another: I counted for you and gave you 100 dinars as a loan alongside this column. The other person said to him in response: I did not pass alongside this column. Two witnesses came and testified about him that they saw that he urinated alongside this column. Reish Lakish said: He assumes the presumptive status of a denier of the truth, as the testimony of witnesses proves that he passed alongside the column.

מתקיף לה רב נחמן: האי דינא פרסאה הוא! מי קאמר ״מעולם״?! בעסק זה קאמר ליה!

Rav Naḥman objects to this: That is a ruling characteristic of a Persian court, not a reasonable ruling characteristic of a Jewish court. Did the respondent say that he never passed alongside the column? It was that he did not pass alongside the column in the context of this matter that he said to him that he did not pass the column; therefore, the testimony of the witnesses does not contradict his statement.