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SANHEDRIN 18
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SUMMARY

1. Rebbi Nechemyah maintains that in order for a Beis Din to be established in a city, the city must have at least 230 residents, while Rebbi maintains that there must be 277 or 278 residents.
 
2. There is a disagreement between the Tanaim regarding whether a Kohen Gadol follows the funeral procession when one of his relatives passes away.
 
3. When a Kohen Gadol comforts a mourner, he must stand apart from the other people who come to comfort him.
 
4. A king is not permitted to be a judge or to testify as a witness.
 
5. It is forbidden to marry the widow of a king.
 
6. If a Kohen Gadol commits murder b'Mezid, he is put to death. If he kills a person b'Shogeg, he must go into exile.
 
7. A Kohen Gadol who transgresses a Mitzvas Aseh or Lo Sa'aseh is judged like a Hedyot.
 
8. There are times when a person is not obligated to pick up an Aveidah and return it.
 
9. In general, a Kohen Gadol does not testify in Beis Din and a king is not placed on the Sanhedrin to serve as a judge. There is, however, one situation in which both of these rules are waived.
 
10. Neither the king nor the Kohen Gadol may be part of the Beis Din that decides on the establishment of a leap year.

A BIT MORE

1. Rebbi Nechemyah maintains that a Beis Din may be established only in a city which has ten residents corresponding to each of the twenty-three judges. Rebbi agrees with Rebbi Nechemyah's reasoning, but he adds that there must be an additional forty-seven people according to Rebbi Yehudah, and an additional forty-eight people according to the Rabanan. These additional residents are required in case the Beis Din of twenty-three judges is evenly split over a verdict and one of the twenty-three is unsure how to rule. In such a case, the Halachah dictates that two more judges should be added to the Beis Din, and if the Beis Din continues to be undecided, they should continue adding pairs of judges until the Beis Din is equal in number to the Sanhedri Gedolah. The Rabanan maintain that there were seventy-one judges on the Sanhedri Gedolah and Rebbi Yehudah maintains that there were only seventy; therefore the Rabanan would require an additional forty-eight residents in the city, while Rebbi Yehudah would require only an additional forty-seven.
 
2. According to Rebbi Meir, a Kohen Gadol may follow his relative's funeral procession until the gate of the city, but he must follow it at a distance so that he will not accidentally become Tamei. Rebbi Yehudah maintains that the Kohen Gadol must stay in the Beis ha'Mikdash and is not permitted to follow the procession at all.
 
3. When a Kohen Gadol comforts a mourner after the burial, the Kohen Gadol stands with the Sgan Kohen Gadol on his right, and all of the other people line up on his left. When a Kohen Gadol himself is in mourning and other people come to comfort him, they say "We are your atonement," and the Kohen Gadol responds, "You shall be blessed from heaven."
 
4. A king is not permitted to serve as a judge, nor may he be judged by a Beis Din. Simiarly, he may not testify in court, and no one is permitted to testify against him. A king may not do Chalitzah or Yibum for his brother's wife, and the king's brother is not permitted to do Chalitzah or Yibum for the king's wife. Rebbi Yehudah maintains that a king may perform Chalitzah or Yibum for his brother's wife if he wishes to do so.
 
5. The Tana Kama maintains that it is forbidden for anyone to marry the widow of a king. Rebbi Yehudah maintains that another king may marry the widow of a king just as David married the widow of Sha'ul ha'Melech.
 
6. If a Kohen Gadol kills a person b'Shogeg, he is sent into exile for the rest of his life. Similarly, if someone else kills the Kohen Gadol himself b'Shogeg, the perpetrator is sent to the Ir Miklat for the rest of his life. These two Dinim have the same reason. In general, an accidental murderer is free to leave the Ir Miklat only upon the death of the Kohen Gadol who is serving in the Beis ha'Mikdash when he is exiled. Since in these cases there is no Kohen Gadol at the time that he goes into exile, he will never be freed from the Ir Miklat.
 
7. If a Kohen Gadol commits an Aveirah for which he would be Chayav Misah, he must be tried by a Beis Din of seventy-one judges. However, if he commits an Aveirah for which the punishment is Malkus, a Beis Din of three judges is sufficient.
 
8. If the finder is a Zaken and it would be dishonorable for him to pick up the lost object, or if he is a K ohen and the lost object is in a cemetery, he is not obligated to retrieve it. Furthermore, if the finder is involved in lucrative work and retrieving the lost object will cause him to lose more money than the object itself is worth, he is not required to retrieve it.
 
9. A Kohen Gadol is not permitted to testify in Beis Din because it is dishonorable for him to serve as a witness. A king is not permitted to sit with the Sanhedrin and act as a judge because none of the other judges would be permitted to disagree with his reasoning. However, in a court case involving the king's son, the Kohen Gadol may testify in Beis Din provided that the king sits with the judges. As long as the king is sitting with the judges, it is not disrespectful for the Kohen Gadol to have to testify in front of them. Once the Kohen Gadol has concluded his testimony, the king leaves and the judges conduct their deliberations without him.
 
10. A king may not participate in the deliberations over establishing a leap year because it is financially beneficial to the king for the year to be extended. A king pays his soldiers on a yearly basis, and during a leap year he is able to make them work an entire extra month for the same yearly salary. A Kohen Gadol also may not participate in the deliberations because he would be biased and would not want to proclaim a leap year. When a leap year is proclaimed, the weather on Yom Kipur is colder, and the cold weather will make it uncomfortable for the Kohen Gadol when he must perform multiple immersions on Yom Kipur.

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