Today’s daf unpacks a mishnah from the bottom of yesterday’s page that explains the circumstances under which a rebellious elder is put to death. What is meant by “rebellious elder” becomes more apparent when the mishnah explains that there were three courts in Jerusalem to which an elder who disagreed with his colleagues could appeal. In order of increasing authority, they were: the court that met at the entrance to the Temple Mount, the court that met at the entrance to the Temple courtyard and the highest court, which met inside the Temple itself in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. This last sanhedrin was the final authority for the Jewish people; whatever it ruled became law for all Israel. The mishnah then continues:
(If the high court ruled contrary to the ruling of the elder who then) returned to his city and he nevertheless taught in the manner that he was teaching previously, he is exempt from punishment. But if he instructed others to act according to his own ruling (which contradicts that of the high court), he is liable to be executed.
Having received a final judgment from the sanhedrin that met at the Chamber of Hewn Stone, the rebellious elder is subject to execution not for continuing to simply teach his own contrasting view, but specifically for encouraging others to act in ways that contradict the court’s ruling. The concern is not his disagreement, per se, but sowing division in practice among the people.
The Gemara on today’s daf brings a beraita that considers possible further limitations on the cases in which a person is deemed a rebellious elder and put to death:
A rebellious elder is liable only for instructing another to perform an action involving a matter for whose intentional violation one is liable to receive karet, and for whose unwitting violation one is liable to bring a sin-offering — this is the statement of Rabbi Meir.
Rabbi Yehuda says: One is liable for a matter whose essence is known from the words of the Torah itself and whose explanation is understood from traditional rabbinic interpretations of the Torah.
Rabbi Shimon says: Even if he differs with regard to one of the minutiae of the scribes in interpreting the Torah, the elder is liable, irrespective of the severity of the transgression.
Rabbi Meir, giving the first opinion, assumes that such a harsh punishment is reserved only for one who disagrees with (and rules against) the high court on a matter of great severity — something punishable by karet, often understood as death at the hands of Heaven. Rabbi Yehuda, on the other hand, believes that for the rebellious elder to incur liability his ruling must be a matter based in Torah, but one that requires rabbinic interpretation. Since the case of the rebellious elder is both about the correct following of Torah law and the authority of the sanhedrin, Rabbi Yehuda reasons that for the elder to incur liability we require both elements: that it be a matter based in Torah, but one that requires rabbinic exegesis/expansion. Therefore the elder is instructing people to potentially violate a Torah matter, and delegitimizing the sanhedrin’s interpretive abilities, thereby threatening the legitimacy of the entire legal system. The implication also seems to be that if the elder instructs people to behave in a way that very explicitly violates a precept in the Torah, they’re not held liable; in such a case, people’s transgressions can’t properly be attributed to this elder’s ruling, as they could have easily known themselves that this contradicted Torah law. Finally, Rabbi Shimon thinks the question here is one of authority and its violation, not the severity of transgression; therefore, in his view, any deviation from the high court’s ruling, even on a seemingly less consequential matter, is sufficient reason to execute the elder. The questions about who precisely is identified as a rebellious elder continue on tomorrow’s daf where we’ll pursue the subject even further.
Read all of Sanhedrin 87 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 14, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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