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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.

Ibid., fol. 78, col. 2.

He who has been flogged and exposes himself again to the same punishment
is to be shut up in a narrow cell, in which he can only stand upright,
and be fed with barley till he burst.

Ibid., fol. 81, col. 2.

If one commits murder, and there is not sufficient legal evidence, he is
to be shut up in a narrow cell and fed with "the bread of adversity and
the water of affliction" (Isa. xxx. 20). They give him this diet till
his bowels shrink, and then he is fed with barley till (as it swells in
his bowels) his intestines burst.

Ibid.

A woman who is doomed, being _enceinte_, to suffer the extreme penalty
of the law, is first beaten, about the womb, lest a mishap occur at the
execution.

_Erachin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

If a woman who has vowed the vow of a Nazarite drink wine or defile
herself by contact with a dead body (see Num. vi. 2-6), she is to
undergo the punishment of forty stripes.

_Nazir_, fol. 23, col. 1.

The Rabbis teach that when the woman has to be flogged, the man has only
to bring a sacrifice; and that if she is not to be flogged, the man is
not required to bring a sacrifice. (This is in reference to Lev. xix.
20, 21.)

_Kerithoth_, fol. 11, col. 1.

Rav Yehudah says, "He that eats a certain aquatic insect, the swallowing
of which while drinking would involve no penalty whatever--Tosefoth,
receives forty stripes save one (the penalty for transgressing the
negative precepts), for it belongs to the class of 'creeping things that
do creep upon the earth' (Lev. xi. 29)." Rav Yehudah once gave a
practical exemplification of this ruling of his.

Abaii says, "He that eats a particular animalcule found in stagnant
water, receives four times forty stripes save one. For eating an ant
this penalty is five times repeated, and for eating a wasp it is
inflicted six times."

_Maccoth_, fol. 16, col. 2.

When one is ordered to construct a booth, or to prepare a palm-branch
for the Feast of Tabernacles, or to make fringes, and does not do so, he
is to be flogged till his soul comes out of him.

_Chullin_, fol. 132, col. 2.

Once on a time, as the Rabbis relate, the wicked Government sent two
officers to the wise men of Israel, saying, "Teach us your law." This
being put into their hands, three times over they perused it; and when
about to leave they returned it, remarking, "We have carefully studied
your law, and find it equitable save in one particular. You say: When
the ox of an Israelite gores to death the ox of an alien, its owner is
not liable to make compensation; but if the ox of an alien gore to death
the ox of an Israelite, its owner must make full amends for the loss of
the animal; whether it be the first or second time that the ox has so
killed another (in which case an Israelite would have to pay to another
Israelite only half the value of the loss), or the third time (when he
would be fined to the full extent of his neighbor's loss). Either
'neighbor' (in Exod. xxi. 35, for such the word signifies in the
original Hebrew, though the Authorized Version has another) is taken
strictly as referring to an Israelite only, and then an alien should be
exempted as well; or if the word 'neighbor' is to be taken in its widest
sense, why should not an Israelite be bound to pay when his ox gores to
death the ox of an alien?" "This legal point," was the answer, "we do
not tell the Government." As Rashi says in reference to the preceding
Halacha, "an alien forfeits the right to his own property in favor of
the Jews."

_Bava Kama_, fol. 38, col. 1.

Ptolemy, the king (of Egypt), assembled seventy-two elders of Israel and
lodged them in seventy-two separate chambers, but did not tell them why
he did so. Then he visited each one in turn and said, "Write out for me
the law of Moses your Rabbi." The Holy One--blessed be He!--went and
counseled the minds of every one of them, so that they all agreed, and
wrote, "God created in the beginning," etc.

_Megillah_, fol. 9, col. 1.

The Talmudic story of the origin of the Septuagint agrees in the
main with the account of Aristeas and Josephus, but Philo gives
the different version. Many of the Christian fathers believed it
to be the work of inspiration.

Abraham was as tall as seventy-four people; what he ate and drank was
enough to satisfy seventy-four ordinary men, and his strength was
proportionate.

_Sophrim_, chap. 21, 9.

The venerable Hillel had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy
that the Shechinah should rest upon them, as it rested upon Moses our
Rabbi; and thirty of them were worthy that the sun should stand still
(for them), as it did for Joshua the son of Nun; and twenty of them
stood midway in worth. The greatest of all of them was Jonathan ben
Uzziel, and the least of all was Rabbi Yochanan ben Zacchai. It is said
of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zacchai that he did not leave unstudied the Bible,
the Mishna, the Gemara, the constitutions, the legends, the minutiae of
the law, the niceties of the scribes, the arguments _a fortiori_ and
from similar premises, the theory of the change of the moon, the
Gematria, the parable of the unripe grapes and the foxes, the language
of demons, of palm-trees, and of ministering angels.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 134, col. 1.

A male criminal is to be hanged with his face toward the people, but a
female with her face toward the gibbet. So says Rabbi Eliezer; but the
sages say the man only is hanged, not the woman. Rabbi Eliezer retorted,
"Did not Simeon the son of Shetach hang women in Askelon?" To this they
replied, "He indeed caused eighty women to be hanged, though two
criminals are not to be condemned in one day."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 45, col. 2.

We may here repeat the story of the execution of the eighty
women here alluded to, as that is told by Rashi on the preceding
page of the Talmud. Once a publican, an Israelite but a sinner,
and a great and good man of the same place, having died on the
same day, were about to be buried. While the citizens were
engaged with the funeral of the latter, the relations of the
other crossed their path, bearing the corpse to the sepulchre.
Of a sudden a troop of enemies came upon the scene and caused
them all to take to flight, one faithful disciple alone
remaining by the bier of his Rabbi. After a while the citizens
returned to inter the remains they had so unceremoniously left,
but by some mistake they took the wrong bier and buried the
publican with honor, in spite of the remonstrance of the
disciple, while the relatives of the publican buried the Rabbi
ignominiously. The poor disciple felt inconsolably distressed,
and was anxious to know for what sin the great man had been
buried with contempt, and for what merit the wicked man had been
buried with such honor. His Rabbi then appeared to him in a
dream, and said, "Comfort thou thy heart, and come I will show
thee the honor I hold in Paradise, and I will also show thee
that man in Gehenna, the hinge of the door of which even now
creaks in his ears. (Which were formed into sockets for the
gates of hell to turn in.) But because once on a time I listened
to contemptuous talk about the Rabbis and did not check it, I
have suffered an ignoble burial, while the publican enjoyed the
honor that was intended for me because he once distributed
gratuitously among the poor of the city a banquet he had
prepared for the governor, but of which the governor did not
come to partake." The disciple having asked the Rabbi how long
this publican was to be thus severely treated, he replied,
"Until the death of Simeon the son of Shetach, who is to take
the publican's place in Gehenna." "Why so?" "Because, though he
knows there are several Jewish witches in Askelon, he idly
suffers them to ply their infernal trade and does not take any
steps to extirpate them." On the morrow the disciple reported
this speech to Simeon the son of Shetach, who at once proceeded
to take action against the obnoxious witches. He engaged eighty
stalwart young men, and choosing a rainy day, supplied each with
an extra garment folded up and stowed away in an earthern
vessel. Thus provided, they were each at a given signal to
snatch up one of the eighty witches and carry her away, a task
they would find of easy execution, as, except in contact with
the earth, these creatures were powerless. Then Simeon the son
of Shetach, leaving his men in ambush, entered the rendezvous of
the witches, who, accosting him, asked, "Who art thou?" He
replied, "I am a wizard, and am come to experiment in magic."
"What trick have you to show?" they said. He answered, "Even
though the day is wet, I can produce eighty young men all in dry
clothes." They smiled incredulously and said, "Let us see!" He
went to the door, and at the signal the young men took the dry
clothes out of the jars and put them on, then starting from
their ambush, they rushed into the witches' den, and each
seizing one, lifted her up and carried her off as directed. Thus
overpowered, they were brought before the court, convicted of
malpractices and led forth to execution.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 44, col. 2.

(Exod. xxiii. 35), "And I will take away sickness from the midst of
thee." It is taught that sickness (Machlah) means the bile. But why is
it termed Machlah? Because eighty-three diseases are in it. Machlah by
Gematria equals eighty-three; and all may be avoided by an early
breakfast of bread and salt and a bottle of water.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 92, col. 2.

If in a book of the law the writing is obliterated all but eighty-five
letters--as, for instance, in Num. x. 35, 36, "And it came to pass when
the ark set forward," etc.,--it may be rescued on the Sabbath from a
fire, but not otherwise.

_Shabbath_, fol. 116, col. 1.

Elijah said to Rabbi Judah the brother of Rav Salla the Pious, "The
world will not last less than eighty-five jubilees, and in the last
jubilee the son of David will come."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col 2.

There was not a single individual in Israel who had not ninety Lybian
donkeys laden with the gold and silver of Egypt.

_Bechoroth_, fol. 5, col. 2.

(2 Sam. xix. 35), "Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?"
From this we learn that in the aged the sense of taste is destroyed....
Rav says, "Barzillai the Gileadite reports falsely, for the cook at the
house of Rabbi (the Holy) was ninety-two years old, and yet could judge
by taste of what was cooking in the pot."

_Shabbath_, fol. 152, col. 1.

Rava said, "Life, children, and competency do not depend on one's merit,
but on luck; for instance, Rabbah and Rav Chasda were both righteous
Rabbis; the one prayed for rain and it came, and the other did so
likewise with the like result; yet Rav Chasda lived ninety-two years and
Rabbah only forty. Rav Chasda, moreover, had sixty weddings in his
family during his lifetime, whereas Rabbah had sixty serious illnesses
in his during the short period of his life. At the house of the former
even the dogs refused to eat bread made of the finest wheat flour,
whereas the family of the latter were content to eat rough bread of
barley and could not always obtain it." Rava also added, "For these
three things I prayed to Heaven, two of which were and one was not
granted unto me. I prayed for the wisdom of Rav Hunna and for the riches
of Rav Chasda, and both these were granted unto me; but the humility and
meekness of Rabbah, the son of Rav Hunna, for which I also prayed, was
not granted."

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