פירוש על מכות 1:10

Sanhendrin. that have smicha in the land of Israel. They have permission to judge cases of fines and capital cases, whether in the land or outside, as long as the Grand Court is in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. As it is written (Deuteronomy 17:12) "in not listening to the priest...or the judge", as long as there is a priest offering sacrifices on the altar, there is a judge that rules capital cases. When there is no priest, there is no judge.

Introduction Mishnah ten discusses a criminal who flees after being convicted. The final part of mishnah ten contains the famous discussion regarding how often the sanhedrins actually carried out executions.

The Sanhedrin that kills once in seven. Once in seven years.

If one fled after having been convicted at a court and again comes up before the same court, the [first] judgment is not set aside. Wherever two witnesses stand up and declare, “We testify that so and so was tried and convicted at a certain court and that so and so were the witnesses” the accused is executed. If the convicted felon fled and was returned before the same court, he is executed without another trial. If he was caught and brought before a different court two witnesses must state that this person was already convicted by another court. They must also name the court and name those who testified against the felon. If they do so he may be executed by the new court without a full trial.

is called destructive. They need to be deliberate in judgment, and judge capital cases to vindication.

[Trials before] a sanhedrin are customary both in the land [of Israel] and outside it. The sanhedrin of twenty three is a communal structure that is functional both in the Land of Israel and outside of it.

No one would ever be killed. They would interrogate the witnesses about things that they would be unable to respond. Regarding a murder, [they'll be asked] "What did you see, was he a treifah or healthy?". And they'll say he was healthy, perhaps the place he was stabbed already had a [deathly] puncture. Regarding sexual immorality, [they'll be asked] "Did you see the makeup applicator inserted into the tube?".

A sanhedrin that executes once in seven years, is called murderous. Rabbi Eliezer b. Azariah Says: once in seventy years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva say: “Had we been members of a sanhedrin, no person would ever be put to death. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel remarked: “They would also multiply murderers in Israel.” This famous piece of mishnah testifies to some of the Rabbis’ deep hesitations with regards to the death penalty. As we have seen throughout tractate Sanhedrin and tractate Makkoth, convicting a person of a capital crime is no easy matter. The person must be warned beforehand and then the crime has to be explicitly witnessed by two valid witnesses. Therefore, the first opinion in our mishnah, concludes that a court that executes once every seven years is a murderous court. Since the laws of testimony are so strict, any court that executes more often than this is assumed to be illegally suspending the laws and is therefore, in a sense, engaging in murder itself. Rabbi Elezar ben Azariah says that once in seventy years already makes a court murderous. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva brag that had they been on a sanhedrin no one would have ever been executed. At the end of the mishnah Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel, the political leader of the Jews at the time, notes a sound of caution. The Rabbinic tendency to be overly lenient on executing murderers can take its toll on society. In his opinion the attitudes of the other Rabbis cause the numbers of murderers to rise.

They're even increasing murder. Due to this we aren't destroying wicked people and are increasing the spilling of blood.

Questions for Further Thought:
• Section two: Why might one have thought that the sanhedrin was not functional outside of the Land of Israel?
• Section three: Why do the Rabbis feel the need to state how infrequently a court should execute? What is Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel’s argument with the others?