re: #3 Bob Levin

This is hard to explain, but if you could look at the structure beneath your argument and sentences—that’s just not how to reason your way through the issue. You’re kind of looking at those writings like answers in the back of a math book.

If you look at 54a, that’s a long page, written in Aramaic, with glosses on the side, which I haven’t even gotten to in my own studies. Published by Artscroll, it takes four big (adjust your bookshelf) big pages of textual translations and footnotes to cover just that one page. The actual Mishnah, which is the catalyst for this discussion begins on 53a, again about 4 pages of translation and footnotes. 54a is part of chapter 7, which begins on 49b, which is a continuation of chapter 6, which changes the discussion from the technical procedures of capital punishment cases to the various cases that result in a death penalty—which was carried out less than two times in seventy years, on average.

All of this data, and more, is very important to understanding each simple sentence. And it should raise questions, not supply answers. The burden of proof in such cases is immense. DNA evidence would not be enough.

I was once told by a rabbi that the Shulchan Aruch is best used to prop up wobbly tables.

Generally, Talmudic arguments never stop. So, to say that they’ve already taken place—nope. That’s just not how to read these books. It’s different linguistic pattern—and to me, very cool.

Thank you. I’m not so succinct when explaining this stuff.

(Wobbly tables…LOL. Except I was taught not to put a sefer on the floor, no matter how inadequate it may be.)