Hebraic Literature 20

Hebraic Literature 20

Avodah Zarah_, fol. 11, col. 2.

 

The Targum Yarushalmi informs us that the Lord God wrought for

Adam and his wife robes of honor from the cast-off skin of the

serpent. We learn elsewhere that Nimrod came into possession of

Adam's coat through Ham, who stole it from Noah while in the

Ark. The glib tongue of tradition also tells how Esau slew

Nimrod and appropriated the garment, and wore it for luck when

hunting; but that on the day when he went to seek venison at the

request of his dying parent, in his hurry he forgot the

embroidered robe of Adam, and had bad luck in consequence. Then

Jacob borrowed the left-off garment, and kept it for himself.

The mask alluded to is accounted for thus:--The daughter of a

Roman emperor took a fancy to have the skin of Rabbi Ishmael's

face, and it accordingly, when he was dead, was taken off, and

so embalmed as to retain its features, __EXPRESSION__, and

complexion, and the Jews say that it is still preserved among

the relics at Rome. The able-bodied man in this prophetic

mystery-play represents Esau, and the limping man is intended

for Jacob. Rome (or Esau) is uppermost in that ceremonial, but

the time is coming when Jacob will rise and invest himself in

the blessings he so craftily obtained the reversion of.

 

Rabbi Yochanan said:--None were elected to sit in the High Council of

the Sanhedrin except men of stature, of wisdom, of imposing appearance,

and of mature age; men who knew witchcraft and seventy languages, in

order that the High Council of the Sanhedrin should have no need of an

interpreter.

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 17, col. 1.

 

Yehudah and Chiskiyah, the sons of Rabbi Cheyah, once sat down to a meal

before Rabbi (the Holy) without speaking a word. "Give the boys some

wine," said Rabbi, "that they may have boldness to speak." When they had

partaken of the wine, they said, "The son of David will not come until

the two patriarchal houses of Israel are no more," that is, the head of

the Captivity in Babylon and the Prince in the land of Israel; for it is

written (Isa. viii. 14), "And he shall be for a sanctuary, and for a

stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel."

"Why, children," said Rabbi (who was patriarch of Tiberias), "you are

thrusting thorns into my eyes." Rabbi Cheyah said, "Do not be offended

at them. Wine is given with seventy, and so is a secret (the numerical

value of each of these words is seventy); when wine enters the secret

oozes out."

 

Ibid., fol. 38, col. 1.

 

A certain star appears once in seventy years and deceives the sailors

(who guide their vessels by the position of the heavenly bodies; and

this star appears sometimes in the north and sometimes in the

south.--_Rashi_.)

 

_Horayoth_, fol. 10, col. 1.

 

As eating olive berries causes one to forget things that he has known

for seventy years, so olive oil brings back to the memory things which

happened seventy years before.

 

Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2,

 

The outside of the shell of the purple mollusk resembles the sea in

color; its bodily conformation is like that of a fish; it rises once in

seventy years; its blood is used to dye wool purple, and therefore this

color is dear.

 

_Menachoth_, fol. 44, col. 1.

 

The bearing-time of the flat-headed otter lasts seventy years; a

parallel may be found in the carob-tree, from the planting to the

ripening of the pods of which is seventy years.

 

_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.

 

The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members. It is recorded that

Rabbi Yossi said, "Seldom was there contention in Israel, but the

judicial court of seventy-one sat in the Lishkath-hagazith, i.e., Paved

Hall, and two (ordinary) courts of justice consisting of twenty-three,

one of which sat at the entrance of the Temple-Mount, and the other at

the entrance of the ante-court; and also (provincial) courts of justice,

also comprising twenty-three members, which held their sessions in all

the cities of Israel. When an Israelite had a question to propose, he

asked it first of the court in his own city. If they understood the

case, they settled the matter; but if not, they applied to the court of

the next city. If the neighboring justices could not decide, they went

together and laid the case in debate before the court which held its

session at the entrance of the Temple-Mount. If these courts, in turn,

failed to solve the problem, they appealed to the court that sat in the

entrance of the ante-court, where a discussion was entered into upon the

moot points of the case; if no decision could be arrived at, they all

referred to the (supreme) court of seventy-one, where the matter was

finally decided by the majority of votes."

 

As the disciples of Shammai and Hillel multiplied who had not studied

the law thoroughly, contentions increased in Israel to such an extent

that the law lost its unity and became as two.

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 88, col. 2.

 

The Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, in order that they might see one

another; and two notaries stood before them, the one on the right and

the other on the left, to record the pros and cons in the various

processes. Rabbi Yehudah says there were three such notaries, one for

the pros, one for the cons, and one to record both the pros and the

cons.

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 36, col. 2.

 

The witnesses (in capital cases) were questioned on seven points, as

follows:--In what Shemitah (or septennial cycle) did it occur? In which

year (of the cycle)? In what month? Upon what day? At what hour? In what

place? ... The more one questioned the more he was commended. (See Deut.

xiii. 15; A.V., ver. 14.)

 

Ibid., fol. 40, col. 1.

 

In connection with the foregoing subject, let us string together some of

the gems of forensic wisdom to be met with in the Talmud. A score or so

of bona fide quotations, respecting judges, criminals and criminal

punishment, and witnesses, will serve to illustrate this part of our

subject.

 

JUDGES.

 

The judge, says the scripture, who for but one hour administers justice

according to true equity, is a partner, as it were, with God in His work

of creation.

 

_Shabbath_, fol. 10, col. 1.

 

Despicable is the judge who judges for reward; yet his judgment is law,

and must, as such, be respected.

 

_Kethuboth_, fol. 105, col. 1.

 

The judge who accepts a bribe, however perfectly righteous otherwise,

will not leave this world with sane mind.

 

Ibid., fol. 105, col. 2.

 

A judge will establish the land if, like a king, he want nothing; but he

will ruin it if, like a priest, he receive gifts from the

threshing-floor.

 

Ibid.

 

Once when Shemuel was crossing a river in a ferryboat, a man lent a

sustaining hand to prevent him from falling. "What," said the Rabbi,

"have I done for thee, that thou art so attentive with thy services?"

The man replied, "I have a lawsuit before thee." "In that case," said

Shemuel, "thy attention has disqualified me from judging in thy

lawsuit."

 

Ameimar was once sitting in judgment, when a man stepped forward and

removed some feathers that were clinging to his hair. Upon this the

judge asked, "What service have I done thee?" The man replied, "I have a

case to bring up before thee, my lord." The Rabbi replied, "Thou hast

disqualified me from being judge in the matter."

 

Mar Ukva once noticed a man politely step up and cover some saliva which

lay on the ground before him. "What have I done for thee?" said the

Rabbi. "I have a case to bring before thee," said the man. "Thou hast

bribed me with thy kind attention," said the Rabbi; "I cannot be thy

judge."

 

Rabbi Ishmael, son of Rabbi Yossi, had a gardener who regularly brought

him a basket of grapes every Friday. Bringing it once on a Thursday, the

Rabbi asked him the reason why he had come a day earlier. "My lord,"

said the gardener, "having a lawsuit to come off before thee to-day, I

thought by so doing I might save myself the journey to-morrow." Upon

this the Rabbi both refused to take the basket of grapes, though they

were really his own, and declined to act as judge in the process. He,

however, appointed two Rabbis to judge the case in his stead, and while

they were investigating the evidence in the litigation he kept pacing up

and down, and saying to himself, if the gardener were sharp he might say

so-and-so in his own behalf. He was at one time on the point of speaking

in defense of his gardener, when he checked himself and said, "The

receivers of bribes may well look to their souls. If I feel partial who

have not even taken a bribe of what was my own, how perverted must the

disposition of those become who receive bribes at the hands of others!"

 

_Kethuboth_, fol. 105, col. 1.

 

The judge who takes a bribe only provokes wrath, instead of allaying it;

for is it not said (Prov. xxi. 14), "A reward in the bosom bringeth

strong wrath"?

 

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 9, col. 2.

 

Let judges know with whom and before whom they judge, and who it is that

will one day exact account of their judgments; for it is said (Ps.

lxxxii. 1), "God standeth in the assembly of God, and judgeth with the

judges."

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 6, col. 2.

 

A judge who does not judge justly causeth the Shechinah to depart from

Israel; for it is said (Ps. xii. 5), "For the oppression of the poor,

the sighing of the needy, now will I depart, saith the Lord."

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

 

The judge should ever regard himself as if he had a sword laid upon his

thigh, and Gehenna were yawning near him; as it is said (Solomon's Song,

iii. 7, 8), "Behold the bed of Solomon (the judgment-seat of God),

threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all

hold swords, being expert in war (with injustice). Every one has his

sword upon his thigh, for fear of the night" (the confusion that would

follow).

 

_Yevamoth_, fol. 109, col. 2; _Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

 

Seven have, in the popular regard, no portion in the world to come: a

notary, a schoolmaster, the best of doctors, a judge in his native

place, a conjuror, a congregational reader, and a butcher.

 

_Avoth d' Rabbi Nathan_, chap. 36.

 

WITNESSES.

 

An ignoramus is ineligible for a witness.

 

The following are ineligible as witnesses of the appearance of the new

moon:--Dice-players, usurers, pigeon-fliers, sellers of the produce of

the year of release, and slaves. This is the general rule; in any case

in which women are inadmissible as witnesses, they also are inadmissible

here.

 

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 22, col. 1.

 

Two disciples of the wise happened to be shipwrecked with Rabbi Yossi

ben Simaii, and the Rabbi allowed their widows to re-marry on the

testimony of women. Even the testimony of a hundred women is only equal

to the evidence of one man (and that only in a case like the foregoing;

it is inadmissible in any other matter).

 

_Yevamoth_, fol. 115, col. 1.

 

"Whosoever is not instructed in scripture, in the Mishna, and in good

manners," says Rabbi Yochanan, "is not qualified to act as a witness."

"He who eats in the street," say the Rabbis, "is like a dog;" and some

add that such a one is ineligible as a witness, and Rav Iddi bar Avin

says the Halachah is as "some say."

 

_Kiddushin_, fol. 40, col. 2.

 

Even when a witness is paid, his testimony is not thereby invalidated.

 

_Kiddushin_, fol. 58, col. 2.

 

Testimony that is invalidated in part is invalidated entirely.

 

_Bava Kama_, fol, 73, col. 1.

 

Let witnesses know with whom and before whom they bear testimony, and

who will one day call them to account; for it is said (Deut. xix. 17),

"Both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the

Lord."

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 6, col. 2.

 

Those that eat another thing (i.e., not pork, but those who receive

charity from a Gentile.--Rashi and Tosefoth) are disqualified from being

witnesses. When is this the case? When done publicly; but if in secret,

not so.

 

Ibid., fol. 26, col. 2.

 

He who swears falsely in a capital case is unreliable as a witness in

any other suit at law; but if he has perjured himself in a civil case

only, his evidence may be relied upon in cases where life and death are

concerned.

 

Ibid., fol. 27, col. 1.

 

He who disavows a loan is fit to be a witness; but he who disowns a

deposit in trust is unfit.

 

_Shevuoth_, fol. 40, col. 2.

 

Shimon ben Shetach says, "Fully examine the witnesses; be careful with

thy words, lest from them they learn to lie."

 

_Avoth_, chap. 1.

 

CRIMINALS AND CRIMINAL PUNISHMENTS.

 

Four kinds of capital punishment were decreed by the court of

justice:--Stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling; or as Rabbi

Shimon arranges them--Burning, stoning, strangling, and beheading. As

soon as the sentence of death is pronounced, the criminal is led out to

be stoned, the stoning-place being at a distance from the court of

justice; for it is said (Lev. xxiv. 14), "Bring forth him that hath

cursed without the camp." Then one official stands at the door of the

court of justice with a flag in his hand, and another is stationed on

horseback at such a distance as to be able to see the former. If,

meanwhile, one comes and declares before the court, "I have something

further to urge in defense of the prisoner," the man at the door waves

his flag, and the mounted official rides forward and stops the

procession. Even if the criminal himself says, "I have yet something to

plead in my defense," he is to be brought back, even four or five times

over, provided there is something of importance in his deposition. If

the evidence is exculpatory, he is discharged; if not, he is led out to

be stoned. As he proceeds to the place of execution, a public crier goes

before him and proclaims, "So-and-so, the son of So-and-so, goes out to

be stoned because he has committed such-and-such a crime, and So-and-so

and So-and-so are the witnesses. Let him who knows of anything that

pleads in his defense come forward and state it." When about ten yards

from the stoning-place, the condemned is called upon to confess his

guilt. (All about to be executed were urged to confess, as by making

confession every criminal made good a portion in the world to come; for

so we find it in the case of Achan, when Joshua said unto him (Josh.

vii. 19), "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel,

and make confession unto him," etc. "And Achan answered Joshua and said,

Indeed I have sinned." But where are we taught that his confession was

his atonement? Where it is said (Ibid., v. 25), "And Joshua said, Why

hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day;" as if to

say, "This day thou shalt be troubled, but in the world to come thou

shalt not be troubled.") About four yards from the stoning-place they

stripped off the criminal's clothes, covering a male in front, but a

female both before and behind. These are the words of Rabbi Yehudah; but

the sages say a man was stoned naked, but not a female.

 

The stoning-place was twice the height of a man, and this the criminal

ascended. One of the witnesses then pushed him from behind, and he

tumbled down upon his chest. He was then turned over upon his back: if

he was killed, the execution was complete; but if not quite dead, the

second witness took a heavy stone and cast it upon his chest; and if

this did not prove effectual, then the stoning was completed by all

present joining in the act; as it is said (Deut. xvii. 7), "The hands of

the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward

the hands of all the people."

 

"Criminals who were stoned dead were afterward hanged." These are the

words of Rabbi Eliezer; but the sages say none were hanged but the

blasphemer and the idolater. "They hanged a man with his face toward the

people, but a woman with her face toward the gallows." These are the

words of Rabbi Eliezer; but the sages say a man is hanged, but no woman

is hanged.... How then did they hang the man? A post was firmly fixed

into the ground, from which an arm of wood projected, and they tied the

hands of the corpse together and so suspended it. Rabbi Yossi says, "The

beam simply leaned against a wall, and so they hung up the body as

butchers do an ox or a sheep, and it was soon afterward taken down

again, for if it remained over night a prohibition of the law would have

been thereby transgressed." For it is said (Deut. xxi. 23), "His body

shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise

bury him that day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God," etc. That

is to say, people would ask why this one was hanged; and as the reply

would needs be, "Because he blasphemed God," this would lead to the use

of God's name under circumstances in which it would be blasphemed.

 

The sentence of burning was carried out thus:--They fixed the criminal

up to his knees in manure, and a hard cloth wrapped in a softer material

was passed round his neck. One of the witnesses, taking hold of this,

pulled it one way, and another the other, until the criminal was forced

to open his mouth; then a wick of lead was lighted and thrust into his

mouth, the molten lead running down into his bowels and burning them.

Rabbi Yehudah asks, "If the criminal should die in their hands, how

would that fulfill the commandment respecting burning?" But they

forcibly open his mouth with a pair of tongues and the lighted wire (the

molten lead) is thrust into his mouth, so that it goes down into his

bowels and burns his inside.

 

The sentence of beheading was executed thus:--They sometimes cut off the

criminal's head with a sword, as is done among the Romans. But Rabbi

Yehudah says this was degrading, and in some cases they placed the

culprit's head upon the block and struck it off with an ax. Some one

remarked to him that such a death is more degrading still.

 

The sentence of strangling was carried out thus:--They fixed the

criminal up to his knees in manure, and having twined a hard cloth

within a soft one round his neck, one witness pulled one way and the

other pulled in an opposite direction till life was extinct.

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 42, col. 2; fol. 49, col. 2; fol. 52, cols. 1, 2.

 

The above, which has been translated almost literally from the

Talmud, may serve to remove many misconceptions now current as

to the modes of capital punishment that obtained in Jewry.

 

In further illustration of this topic, we will append some of

the legal decisions that are recorded in the Talmud,

authenticating each by reference to folio and column. Examples

might be multiplied by the score, but a sufficient number will

be quoted to give a fair idea of Rabbinic jurisprudence.

 

If one who intends to kill a beast (accidentally) kill a man; or if,

purposing to kill a Gentile, he slay an Israelite; or if he destroy a

foetus in mistake for an embryo, he shall be free; i.e., not guilty.