Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin today: rebirth or stillbirth?

Background

What is the Sanhedrin?

The Sanhedrin, or "Court of 71", is the "Supreme Court" of Jewish law (known as halachah). The Torah's legal system is predicated upon the Jewish people having a centralized Court to implement the Torah Law, instruct the people, punish transgressors, issue regulations, supervise over the nation's needs , nominate public functionaries and decide those matters of Law which have not been decided previously.

There is a Biblical commandment to appoint judges and officers in each and every city and administrative region in the Land of Israel, as the verse states: "שופטים ושוטרים, תיתן לך בכל שעריך" and "תיתן לך בכל שעריך, אשר ה' אלוהיך נותן לך" (Deut 16:18), (MT sanhedrin 1:1-3). Initially, we must establish the "Supreme Court", called the "Great Sanhedrin", in the Temple. This court consists of seventy-one judges, as the verse states; "אספה לי שבעים איש מזקני ישראל" (Num 11:16) ... including Moshe our Teacher, seventy-one. And then we must seat two courts of twenty-three, also in the Temple environs. (MT there, 1:4-8).

Besides these three National Courts, we must also establish regional courts in every city with a sufficient population (120 or more adult males), as indicated by the verse "והציגו בשער משפט" (Amos 5:15). These courts sit at the gates of the city, and are composed of twenty-three judges - like the two lesser courts in the Temple - and they are called "Lesser Sanhedrin". If the city has fewer than 120 adult males, then a court of three judges is established there - since a court may not consist of fewer than three. (MT there, 1:8 et. seq.)

The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin goes into great detail about how many sit on a Sanhedrin, what their qualifications should be, what sort of cases each variety of court tries, and what the rules of evidence are. The Rambam codifies the various rules and requirements in the Laws of Sanhedrin.

History of the Sanhedrin

The first Sanhedrin came into being when God told Moshe our Teacher to "gather seventy elders", as mentioned above. From that time onward (as Rambam details) the system of Jewish jurisprudence was in full effect until such time as brazen murderers became common. At that time, the Court ceased judging death-penalty cases (Sotah 47b). The Sanhedrin continued functioning with self-imposed diminution of authority until approximately 415 CE, when the last Nasi (head of the Court) was deposed by the Roman emperors Theodosius II and Honorius. This is what Rambam refers to when he states, "...and the Sanhedrin composed of seventy had ceased to exist several years before the composition of the Talmud." (MT intro 32).

The Talmudic sages "Rabina and Rav Ashei and their fellows, were the last of the great sages of Israel who transcribed the oral Torah, and who issued decrees, positive enactments and customs -- and whose decrees, enactments and customs became widespread throughout Israel, wherever they dwelt." (MT intro 29). Their redaction of the Babylonian Talmud was the effective "sealing" of halachah as promulgated by all the Sanhedrins which had existed from Moshe our Teacher's time until just before them.

From that time until our present day, there has not been a national judicial body capable of enforcing a unity among the Jewish people, and giving us the direction and guidance the Torah expects us to have.

Basis for the Reestablishment

The Rambam writes in MT sanhedrin 4:12:

נראין לי הדברים, שאם הסכימו כל החכמים שבארץ ישראל למנות דיינין ולסמוך אותן - הרי אלו סמוכין, ויש להן לדון דיני קנסות, ויש להן לסמוך לאחרים. אם כן, למה היו החכמים מצטערין על הסמיכה, כדי שלא ייבטלו דיני קנסות מישראל: לפי שישראל מפוזרין, ואי אפשר שיסכימו כולן; ואם היה שם סמוך מפי סמוך, אינו צריך דעת כולן, אלא דן דיני קנסות לכול, שהרי נסמך מפי בית דין. והדבר צריך הכרע.

This is the thread of hope upon which the various attempts to re-establish the Sanhedrin have depended. It seems clear from the wording that Rambam was not entirely certain this would work, but "requires convincing arguments".

Attempts at Reestablishment of the Sanhedrin

This is just a summary of the more notable halachic attempts at restoration of the Sanhedrin and semicha:

R' Jacob Berav

In 1538 twenty-five rabbis met in Tsefat and "ordained" R' Berav. In a discourse at the synagogue there, R' Berav defended the legality of his ordination from a Talmudic standpoint, and showed the nature of the rights conferred upon him. On hearing of this event most of the other Palestinian scholars expressed their agreement, and the few who disapproved did not have the courage to oppose R' Berav and his followers.

R' Berav then ordained a few other rabbis, including the chief Rabbi of Jerusalem ibn Habib, R' Joseph Caro, R' Moshe of Trani, and R' Yosef Sagis. Joseph Caro later ordained R' Moshe Alshich, and the Alshich ordained R' Hayyim Vital around 1590.

Despite his being ordained by R' Berav, R' ibn Habib maintained his disapproval, and sent a communication to the scholars of Tsefat, in which he set forth the illegality of their proceeding and declared that the innovation involved a risk to rabbinical Judaism, since the Sanhedrin might use its sovereign authority to tamper with the calendar.

Eventually, the entire enterprise came to an end after R' Berav had to flee because the Turkish authorities considered him a threat. But it was predestined to fail when he did not seek out the approval of the Rabbis of Jerusalem, thereby guaranteeing it did not fulfill the condition that "all" the Sages of Israel agree.

R' Isroel Shklover

In 1830, R' Israel ben Samuel Ashkenazi of Shklov, was interested in utilizing a suggestion of the Radvaz of receiving semicha from one of the "Ten Tribes", specifically Reuven and Gad. R' Yisroel charted out where he thought the Bnei Reuven were probably located, and sent an emissary, R' Pinchas Baruch, to locate them (Sefer Halikutim to the Shabsei Frankel edition of Rambam, Hilchos Sanhedrin 4:11). Unfortunately, R' Baruch did not succeed in locating the tribe of Reuven and was either killed or died while attending to the medical needs of poor Yemenite villagers.

R' Yehudah Leib Maimon

In 1948, with the establishment of the modern State of Israel, the idea of restoring the traditional form of semicha and reestablishing a new "Sanhedrin" became popular among some within the religious Zionist community. R' Judah Leib Maimon, Israel's first minister of religious affairs, promoted this idea. A small number of religious Zionist rabbis of Modern Orthodox Judaism's Rabbinical Council of America voiced support for this idea; some rabbis within Conservative Judaism entertained the idea as a potentially positive development. However, most secular Jews, most Haredim, and most non-Orthodox Jews did not approve of this goal. Israel's Chief Ashkenazi rabbi at the time, Isaac Herzog, was hesitant to support this goal, and the idea eventually died due to lack of support.

The Current Attempt

On October 13, 2004, a group of a variety of rabbis met in Tiberias and declared itself a re-established "Sanhedrin". They claim legal basis for their action in Rambam's writings as understood by R' Beirav and R' Yosef Karo. The group in Tiberias intended to imitate the actions of R' Beirav in 1538 by holding an election for a samuch (first ordained Rabbi). Seven hundred rabbis were contacted either in person or in writing and R' Moshe Halberstam of the Edah Charedis was elected.

Some in the haredi world claim that he was the first to receive classical semicha in two thousand years. He participated in the project to reestablish the "Sanhedrin", only to the extent that the became first person to receive semicha. He was found to be “fitting to serve on the Sanhedrin" by both Sephardic Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and no objectors came forward to oppose his receiving the ordination. R' Halberstam then ordained R' Dov Levanoni who, in turn, ordained the rest of the rabbis involved in the nascent Sanhedrin.

This attempt was intended to be an "improvement" on R' Beirav's attempt by contacting seven hundred rabbis across Israel, as opposed to R' Beirav's election by twenty five rabbis of Tsefat. In addition, to avoid disagreements over who was worthy to sit on the Sanhedrin, a Jewish Court of seventy one rabbis was immediately formed with whatever scholars were available, with minimal regard to their level of scholarship. The rabbis act as "place holders" and have publicly expressed their intention to step aside when a more worthy candidate is found. However this step, even if the semicha were valid, has cast doubt of legal status of the "Sanhedrin". This fact was recognized even by the "Nasi" of the "Sanhedrin".

The current attempt to re-establish the Sanhedrin is the sixth attempt in recent history, but unlike previous attempts, there seems to be wide consensus among the leading Torah sages living in the Land of Israel for the pressing need for such an institution at this time, due to political climate created by actions of the State of Israel which have been perceived by various religious communities as actions against their interests. The Sanhedrin is seen as one of several attempts to form an alternative (in this case religious) leadership in Israel. However, though criticism from leading Rabbis is lacking, public support for it is equally lacking, so it remains unlikely that this particular attempt will gain acceptance within the Jewish community. (paraphrased from Wikipedia and thesanhedrin.org)

Rebirth or Stillbirth?

Challenges

The most recent attempt, which is ongoing at the time of this writing, faces some difficult challenges to its authority.

Rambam states that in his opinion, reestablishment of semichah might work on condition "שאם הסכימו כל החכמים שבארץ ישראל" ... the difficult words here being "כל" and "חכמים". There is good reason to assume Rambam is using "all" to mean "the vast majority" and not literally "all". Even with that proviso, the current attempt sent out 700 ballots to rabbis; only 200 participated. Of those 200, only 120 voted for R' Halberstam and 80 did not. To recap: 700 total ballots - 500 abstentions, 120 in favor, 80 not in favor. Even of the 200 who did respond, it is hard to see how 60% is "כל". This is the first challenge.

Rambam defines a Sage in the Laws of Women 8:7 : "על מנת שאני חכם--אין אומרין כרבי עקיבה וחבריו, אלא כל ששואלין אותו דבר חכמה בכל מקום ואומר". In other words, one who has a wide knowledge of all the Written and Oral Torah, though not necessarily as deep a knowledge as a Talmudic Sage. It is well known (they admit themselves) that the the current body is not composed of such sages. This is the second challenge.

The third challenge is: how is it possible to "ordain" Rabbis through this organization, since the conditions laid out by the Rambam have not been fulfilled? Indeed, without any ordained Rabbis it is impossible to ordain, unless there is the agreement of the majority of Sages in Israel, as brought above.

Responses

Two representatives of the body which calls itself "Sanhedrin" have attempted to respond to my points. The full conversation is on my website, here:

 http://ronware.org/rambam/viewtopic.php?id=103

In any case, the summary of the answers is as follows:

First, that the Rambam did not intend "all" to mean every single sage in Israel, as there are hundreds of thousands who might be considered as such in one way or another. Therefore, the invitations were sent to only the most well-known sages, as well as the municipal rabbis.

Second, that based on the principle "בכל בחירות בכל מקום. מי שנמנע כמסכים לתוצאה", those who did not respond tacitly agreed to the outcome, so therefore there is a great majority.

Third,

"Moreover in this situation, the greatest heads expressed their opinion like so:

Rabbis Eliashiv and Ovadia agree. Rav Eliyahu agrees indirectly, since his son was "musmach". Rav Shapira abstained. We asked him (I was there personally), "Do you agree?" he answered, "No!". "Do you disagree?" he answered, "No!" also."

Finally,

"Furthermore, the the first "samuch" was among the most important dayyanim, in favor. He was convinced that the ordinations given him were sufficient and agreed to be ordained by them. Not only that, but the President of the Sanhedrin, the Rav Adin Steinsaltz shlit"a was also convinced of the propriety of the method, as he agreed to be "nasi"."

Deconstruction of the Responses

First: as mentioned above, Rambam does give a definition of "sage". It does not depend on that person's position, but strictly depends on the breadth of his knowledge. This is something for which it is possible to give an objective exam, and determine whether or not a particular person is a "sage". There is a finite group of such people, probably much more than 700 but not hundreds of thousands. Not everyone with "smicha" today is a "sage", and on the other hand there are people without "smicha" who are "sages".

Second: Rambam never brings any such concept as that "one who abstains is considered as having agreed". Neither have I ever heard this principle applied in any election I have witnessed. Proof that the Rambam does not agree with this is in MT sanhedrin 8:5, "נמצאו חמישה נושאין ונותנין בדבר: אמרו שלושה מהם זכאי ושניים חייב, הרי זה זכאי; אמרו שלושה חייב ושניים זכאי, הרי זה חייב; אמרו שניים זכאי ושניים חייב, ואחד אומר איני יודע--מוסיפין שניים". In addition, there 8:8: "כל מי שאמר איני יודע--צריך ליתן טעם לדבריו, ולהודיע מאיזה טעם בא לו הספק, כדרך שמראה המזכה מאיזה טעם מזכה, והמחייב מאיזה טעם מחייב". This is so for a court proceeding - how much moreso for those who appoint the judges!

Third: with all due respect to the great sages mentioned, they are a minority of a minority. Rambam calls for a majority (or perhaps, truly "all"). And neither R' Eliyahu nor R' Shapira actually agreed! The same objections hold for the "finally" above.

Where do we go from here?

The current attempt at reconstituting the Sanhedrin is a worthy first step. Unfortunately, it seems wishful thinking and good intentions are overshadowing halachic concerns. The first necessary step, in my humble opinion, is to convene an open meeting (in one place, not via mail, email or fax) of the vast majority of the true sages in Israel and get their approval for the establishment. They can then, as the Rambam states - by virtue of the fact that they represent the entire nation of the Jewish people - re-instate semicha. This is a minimal, but necessary first step.

Once that has occurred, the samuch will be able to create an halachic Sanhedrin by ordaining other sages. Until it has occurred, the "Sanhedrin" is just a large beit-din like any other.

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