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1) HOW MANY JUDGES GO OUT

(a) Question: If R. Yehudah and R. Shimon learn this way - each should learn 2 additional judges from "They will go out", and another 2 from "They will measure"!
(b) Answer: Those words teach other laws: "They will go out" - and not their messengers; "They will measure" - even if it is obvious which city is closest, they measure, for it is a Mitzvah to measure.
(c) Our Mishnah is unlike R. Eliezer ben Yakov.

1. (Beraisa - R. Eliezer ben Yakov): "Your elders" - this is the (great) Sanhedrin; "Your judges" - this is the king and the Kohen Gadol.

i. Other verses refer to the king and the Kohen Gadol as judges.

(d) Question: Does R. Eliezer ben Yakov hold that the entire Sanhedrin goes out, or only 5 or 3 as R. Yehudah or R. Shimon?
(e) Answer (Rav Yosef - Beraisa): If a rebellious sage finds the great Sanhedrin by Bei Pagi and rules against them, one might have thought that this counts as rebellion - "You will ascend to the place", rebellion is only when they are in their place (the Gazis chamber in the Mikdash).

1. Question: How many members of the Sanhedrin were by Bei Pagi?

i. Suggestion: Not all of them.
ii. Rejection: This is not considered rebellion anywhere - perhaps the others on the Sanhedrin would agree with the sage!

2. Answer: It must be, the entire Sanhedrin was there.
3. Question: Why did they leave their normal place?

i. Suggestion: For a reason that is not a Mitzvah.
ii. Rejection: That is forbidden! A judge may not leave the great Sanhedrin unless at least 23 judges remain.

4. Answer: Rather, we must say that they all left for a Mitzvah.

i. Suggestion: This Beraisa is as R. Eliezer ben Yakov; they left to measure from a corpse!

(f) Rejection (Abaye): No, we can say they left to add on to Yerushalayim or the courtyards of the Mikdash.

1. (Mishnah): All 71 members of the Sanhedrin are needed to add on to Yerushalayim or the courtyards of the Mikdash.

(g) Support (for Rav Yosef - Beraisa): If a rebellious sage finds the great Sanhedrin by Bei Pagi and rules against them - for example, they left to measure from a corpse, or to add on to Yerushalayim or the courtyards of the Mikdash - one might have thought that this counts as rebellion;

1. "You will ascend to the place" - rebellion is only when they are in their place.

(a) (Mishnah): If a corpse was found covered or hanging from a tree ...
(b) Suggestion: Our Mishnah is as R. Yehudah, not as Chachamim.

1. (Beraisa - R. Yehudah): "And you forgot a sheaf in the field" - this excludes a covered sheaf (from the law of Shichchah);
2. Chachamim say, "In the field" includes a covered sheaf.

(c) Rejection (Rav): Our Mishnah can even be as Chachamim; in each case, we learn from the context of the verse.

1. Here it says "When you will find a corpse" - (any way) he is found; "In the ground" - to exclude if he is covered;
2. There it says "When you will harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf" - Shichchah must resemble what is harvested - just as one harvests what is exposed, also Shichchah must be exposed;

i. The verse continues "In the filed" - to include what is covered.

(d) Question: R. Yehudah should also learn that Shichchah must be exposed, as the harvest - he should not need a verse to exclude what is covered!
(e) Answer: Correct! Indeed, he uses "In your field" to teach that attached vegetation can have the law of Shichchah.
(f) Question: How do Chachamim learn this?
(g) Answer: From "When you will harvest in your field".

1. R. Yehudah uses that to teach R. Avahu's law.

i. (R. Avahu): "In your field" - sheaves which were blown into a neighbor's field are not Shichchah.

2. Chachamim would have learned the law of attached vegetation even had the Torah said 'In the field'; now that the Torah said "In your field", they also learn R. Avahu's law.
3. R. Yehudah holds that this change of language does not warrant expounding another law.

(h) Question (R. Yirmeyah): If the wind lifted sheaves onto a rock - can they become Shichchah?

1. Is something resting in the airspace of the field as if it is on the field, or not?

(i) Answer (Rav Kahana): We can learn from R. Avahu.

1. R. Avahu taught that if sheaves floated onto (a rock in) a neighbor's field, they are not Shichchah - the same case in his own field would be Shichchah!
2. Objection: If this is a valid inference - one should also deduce that only sheaves above his neighbor's field are not Shichchah, but sheaves on the field are Shichchah!

i. But the Torah said "In your field", and this is not fulfilled!

3. Answer: Rather, we must say that the sheaves flew onto his neighbor's field; even if they are on the ground, they are not Shichchah.

i. R. Avahu only said that they floated, for this is the only way to come to his neighbor's field.

(j) Answer #2 (Beraisa): A landowner picked up a sheaf to take it to the city; he put it on another sheaf, and forgot it. The bottom sheaf is Shichchah, the top sheaf is not;

1. R. Shimon ben Yehudah says, the bottom sheaf is not Shichchah, for it is covered; the top sheaf is not Shichchah, for it is elevated.
2. (Summation of answer): Both Tana'im agree that the top sheaf is not Shichchah because it is not on the ground!

(k) Rejection: No, it became his when he picked it up, and henceforth cannot become Shichchah.
(l) Question: If so, why does it say that he put it on top of another sheaf - even on the ground, it would not be Shichchah!
(m) Answer: That is true! The Beraisa says that he put it on another sheaf to teach the argument about the bottom sheaf.
(n) Objection: But it says, the top sheaf is not Shichchah because it is elevated!
(o) Answer: It means, the top sheaf is not Shichchah because it is as if it elevated, i.e. still in his hand!
(p) Question: 1 corpse is found resting on another. For which do we behead a calf?

1. Do we say that the bottom corpse is considered covered (even though the covering is also a corpse), but the top corpse is not considered elevated (since only another corpse separates between it and the ground - therefore, the calf is brought for the top corpse)?
2. Or, do we say that a corpse is not considered a covering for a corpse, but the top corpse is considered elevated even though it rests on another corpse resting on the ground - therefore, the calf is brought for the bottom corpse?
3. Or, do we say that they are covered and elevated, and no calf is brought? (Or - are they neither covered nor elevated, and a calf is brought for each (if each is closer to a different city)?

(q) Answer (Abaye): We can settle (the law of the bottom sheaf) from the Beraisa.

1. (Beraisa): A landowner picked up a sheaf to take it to the city; he put it on another sheaf, and forgot it. The bottom sheaf is Shichchah, the top sheaf is not;
2. R. Shimon ben Yehudah says, the bottom sheaf is not Shichchah, for it is covered; the top sheaf is not Shichchah, for it is elevated.
3. (Assumption): Both Tana'im hold as R. Yehudah, that a covered sheaf can be Shichchah; they argue whether a sheaf is considered a covering for another sheaf.
4. Rejection: No - all agree that a sheaf is considered a covering for another sheaf; they argue whether Shichchah applies to a covered sheaf.
5. Question: If so, why does it say that a sheaf covers the bottom sheaf - the 1st Tana would say it is Shichchah even if it is covered by dirt!
6. Answer: That is true - the Tana wanted to show the extremity of R. Yehudah, that even a sheaf covered by a sheaf is not Shichchah.

(a) (Beraisa): "A corpse (implying, killed by a sword)" - and not one that died by choking; "A corpse" - and not one still quivering; "On the ground" - and not covered in a rock heap; "That fell" - and not hanging from a tree; "On the field" - and not floating on the water;

1. R. Eliezer says, for any corpse (killed by a sword - even if it is quivering/covered/hanging or floating) a calf is beheaded.
2. Chachamim: You admit that if he choked, even if he rests on the ground, no calf is brought - why do you argue on the other teachings?
3. R. Eliezer: I only admit to the 1st, since an extra "corpse" is written.

(b) (Mishnah): If it was found close to the border, or near a city that is mostly Nochrim ...
(c) No calf is brought, for it says "When you will find" - to exclude such a case, for corpses are regularly found there.
(d) (Mishnah): Or to a city without a Sanhedrin ...
(e) This is because the elders (Sanhedrin) of the city must come out, and this cannot be fulfilled.
(f) (Mishnah): We only measure to a city with a Sanhedrin ...
(g) Question: This is obvious - since only a city with a Sanhedrin brings a calf, there is no point to measure to a city without a Sanhedrin!
(h) Answer (Beraisa): "The elders of that city will take" - if it is found closest to a city without a Sanhedrin, we measure to the closest city with a Sanhedrin!

(a) (Mishnah - R. Eliezer): If it is found to be exactly midway between 2 cities, each city brings a calf.
(b) Yerushalayim does not bring a calf.
(c) R. Eliezer says, if the head was not near the body, we bring the head to the body; R. Akiva says, we bring the body to the head.
(d) R. Eliezer says, we measure from the naval; R. Akiva says, from the nose; R. Eliezer ben Yakov says, from the place he became a corpse - from the neck.
(e) (Gemara) Question: Why does R. Eliezer say that 2 calves are beheaded?
(f) Answer: He holds that it is possible that it is exactly in the middle; also, when the Torah says "The closest city", it means the closest cities (if 2 are closest):
(g) (Mishnah): Yerushalayim does not bring a calf.

1. This is because Yerushalayim was not apportioned to the tribes as the rest of Eretz Yisrael.

(h) (Mishnah): If the head was not near the body ...
(i) Question: Regarding what do they argue?

1. Suggestion: From where do we measure.
2. Rejection: Later, the Mishnah asks from where we measure - implying it does not address this earlier!

(j) Answer (R. Yitzchak): An unattended corpse is buried in its place; R. Eliezer says, it is buried where the body is; R. Akiva says, where the head is.
(k) Question: On what do they argue?
(l) Answer: R. Eliezer holds, he died where the body is, the head rolled; R. Akiva holds, he died where the head is, his body kept walking after the head was severed.
(m) (Mishnah): From where do we measure?
(n) Question: On what do they argue?
(o) Answer: R. Akiva says that the source of life is the nose; R. Eliezer says, the stomach.
(p) Suggestion: They argue as the following Tana'im.

1. (Beraisa): A fetus is created starting with the head - "From my mother's womb you are my head";
2. Aba Sha'ul says, from the naval; it grows in all directions.

(q) Rejection: No - Aba Sha'ul can even hold as R. Akiva.

1. Aba Sha'ul only said that a fetus is created from the middle, but he can admit that the source is the nose - "All that has a soul of life in its nose".

(r) R. Eliezer ben Yakov says, from the place he became a corpse - from the neck.

1. He learns form a verse that cutting the neck makes it called a corpse.

(a) (Mishnah): (After measuring), the judges from Yerushalayim return to Yerushalayim; the elders of the nearest city bring a calf that never bore a yoke.
(b) A blemish does not disqualify the calf.
(c) They take it down to a rocky valley. It should be Eisan (virgin soil); if it is hard but not virgin soil, it is Kosher (Rashi; Rambam - They take it down to an Eisan (gushing) river. It should be gushing - if the ground is hard but the river is not gushing, it is Kosher).
(d) They behead it with a chopping knife from the back. It is forbidden to farm the place where it was beheaded; one may comb flax there or quarry rocks.
(e) The elders of the city wash their hands in water where it was beheaded; they say "Our hands did not spill his blood; our eyes did not see".

1. Question: Would we really think that the elders of Beis Din are murderers?!
2. Answer: They mean, had he come to us, we would not have turned him away; had we seen him, we would not have abandoned him.