Se un assassino si mescolasse con gli altri, tutti non sarebbero responsabili. [Ad esempio, se due uomini fossero in piedi e una freccia uscisse da loro e uccidesse qualcuno, entrambi non sono responsabili. E anche se uno di loro fosse noto per la santità, tanto che è certo che non ha scagliato la freccia, l'altro non è responsabile di questa presunzione.] R. Yehudah dice: Sono incarcerati. [La nostra Mishnah è difettosa. Fu insegnato così: "E se un bue il cui giudizio (per uccidere un uomo) veniva pronunciato si mescolava con altri buoi, venivano tutti lapidati". Infatti, è vietato trarre beneficio da tutti loro— anche se fossero mille —a causa di quello mescolato con loro. Pertanto, sono tutti lapidati, in modo che la mitzvah della lapidazione sia soddisfatta con colui che ne è responsabile.] R. Yehudah dice: Sono incarcerati. Non è necessario lapidarli, ma sono tutti raccolti in una stanza e muoiono di fame. L'halachah non è conforme a R. Yehudah.] Tutti coloro che sono soggetti alla pena di morte giudiziaria che si sono mescolati tra loro ricevono la pena minore. Se gli uomini condannati per la lapidazione si mescolano con gli altri condannati per la masterizzazione, R. Shimon dice: Sono lapidati, poiché il rogo è più grave. I saggi dicono: sono bruciati, perché la lapidazione è più grave. R. Shimon disse loro: "Se il rogo non fosse più grave, non verrebbe somministrato alla figlia di Cohein che commetteva adulterio". Gli dissero: se la lapidazione non fosse stata più grave, non sarebbe stata somministrata a un bestemmiatore e un idolatro! "Se gli uomini condannati alla decapitazione si mescolassero con altri condannati allo strangolamento, R. Shimon dice (devono essere decapitati) con la spada, [lo strangolamento è più grave.] I saggi dicono: devono essere strangolati, [la decapitazione inizia più severa].
Bartenura on Mishnah Sanhedrin
רוצח שנתערב באחרים – such as two people who were standing and an arrow came out from between them and killed, both of them are exempt, and even if one of the two of them was presumed for his righteousness and it was known that he did not shoot the arrow, even so, they don’t make him liabler for other by this presumption.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
Introduction
The opening clause of this mishnah deals with a murderer who is mixed up with others who are not murderers, and the court does not know which one was the murderer. The second clause deals with people condemned to die by different forms of execution who become mixed up together such that the court does not know who gets which punishment..
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sanhedrin
רבי יהודה אומר כונסין אותן לכיפה – Our Mishnah is deficient and this is how it should be read as follows: An ox whose proceedings are finished (i.e., the sentence was pronounced) that it was mixed up with other oxen , they stone them, for perforce, all of them forbidden to derive benefit from them and even if they were one-thousand, because of this ox that was mixed up with others, therefore we stone all of them in order that the Mitzvah of stoning can be fulfilled with the one who was liable for it. [Rabbi Yehuda states]: They put them all in prison., and there is no need to stone them, but rather, put them in a room and they will die of hunger. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
If a murderer became mixed up with others, they are all exempted [from the death penalty]. R. Judah said: they are placed in a cell. If a condemned murderer becomes mixed up in a crowd of people so that no one can identify which one is the murderer and which one is not, none of them may be executed. Although this sounds like a strange and highly unlikely prospect, it nevertheless teaches the principle that unless the court is 100 per cent sure of the identity of the murderer, he may not be killed. According to Rabbi Judah, the court cannot leave this problem without a solution. They would therefore put all of the people into prison until the matter was clarified. [The Talmud has many difficulties in understanding this ruling of Rabbi Judah, since it seems to unfairly punish innocent people. Therefore they understand this as only applying to certain, limited cases.]
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sanhedrin
ר' שמעון אומר בסייף – for choking is more stringent.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
If a number of persons condemned to different types of sentences became mixed with one another, they are executed by the most lenient. If criminals condemned to stoning [became mixed up] with others condemned to burning, Rabbi Shimon said: they are stoned, because burning is severer. But the sages say they are burned, because stoning is severer. (1) Rabbi Shimon said to them: “If burning was not severer, it would not be decreed for a priest's adulterous daughter.” (2) They replied: “If stoning was not severer, it would not be the penalty of a blasphemer and an idolater.” If men condemned to decapitation became mixed up with others condemned to strangling, Rabbi Shimon said: “They are [all] decapitated.” The sages say: “They are [all] strangled.” The remainder of the mishnah deals with the intermixing of persons condemned to different types of death penalties. The principle is stated very clearly in the beginning of the section that in such a case they all receive the most lenient of the death penalties to which any one person in the group had been condemned. The remainder of the disputes between Rabbi Shimon and the Sages are over which types of execution are more serious than the others. This dispute was already discussed in the beginning of chapter seven. Rabbi Shimon believes that burning is more serious than stoning, whereas the Sages believe that stoning is more serious. Each side tries to prove his case by bringing an example of a serious crime which is punished by one of these types of execution. According to Rabbi Shimon, the fact that an adulterous daughter of a priest (kohen) is punished by burning proves that burning is more serious. According to the Sages, the fact that the blasphemer and the idol worshipper are punished by stoning proves that stoning is more serious. Finally, in the end of the mishnah we learn that according to Rabbi Shimon strangling is more serious than decapitation, whereas according to the Sages, decapitation is more serious. Despite these disputes, everyone agrees that when in doubt a person is punished by the least serious form of the death penalty.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sanhedrin
וחכמים אומרים בחנק – for the sword is more stringent.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
Questions for Further Thought: • Why might Rabbi Shimon think that an adulterous daughter of a priest is a prime example of a very serious crime, one which is punished by the most serious type of death penalty? Why might the Sages disagree?
