סנהדרין א׳:א׳ - א׳:ב׳

דיני ממונות – that is admissions (according to Tractate Shevuot 6:1 – worth at least one Perutah) and loans.

בשלשה – commoners/lay persons, for the Rabbis did not require three specialists, in order not to lock the door before loans, lest the borrower confess and specialists are not found to force him to court, but rather, or one [judge] would be a specialist or [all] three are commoners; but cases of theft and mayhem [require] three specialists, for [the word] אלהים/”God” (which means judges) is written in the section of the guardians in [the Torah portion] of “And these are the statutes” (Exodus, chapter 21 and beyond; specifically, the verses are: Exodus 22:6-8) , and from it we derive three specialists.

נזק – [damage caused] by man or by a warned bull , who damaged him for which they pay complete damages.

חצי נזק – an innocuous bull, who caused damage (and even though this is mayhem) , since it was necessary to teach in the Mishnah “double fines, and four and five-times payment, which he doesn’t pay like what he damages, when he pays more. The Tanna [our Mishnah] also taught half-damage in which he does not pay what he damaged, for he pays less. And since the Mishnah taught half-damage, it also taught [full] damages.

ומוציא שם רע – “I did not find your daughter a virgin” (Deuteronomy 22:17); “and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver [and give it to the girl’s father for the man has defamed a virgin in Israel…]” (Deuteronomy 22:19).

דיני נפשות – and if the matter was found to be true that she was unfaithful [to her husband] and they stoned her. And capital cases [are judged] by twenty-three, as seen further, and Halakha is according to the Sages.

מכות – forty stripes

בשלשה – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:1): “…and they go to law, and a decision is rendered.” The word ושפטום/and they go to law – [denotes] two, and there can never be an even-balanced court, so we add upon them another [judge], for we have three [judges].

רבי ישמעאל אומר: בעשרים ושלשה – it comes [by a comparison of the word] רשע רשע –[found in two different places by analogy]. It is written here (Deuteronomy 25:1) “declared the one in the right and the other in the wrong”, and it is written there (Numbers 35:31): “[You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer] who is guilty of capital crime; [he must be put to death].”Just as there (i.e., in Numbers 35:31), with twenty-three [judges], so here (Deuteronomy 25:1) with twenty-three [judges].

עיבור החודש – the Sanctification of the [New] Month, and since it was necessary [for the Mishnah] to teach the intercalation of the year (i.e., proclaiming a leap-year/inserting a second Adar), so too it taught the intercalation of a month (i.e., proclaiming a month just past one of thirty days).

בשלשה מתחילין – to see if one is able to appoint a Jewish court on this. And if one of the three [judges] says that there is a need for the Jewish court to sit and investigate if it is necessary to intercalate the year because of the solstice, and the spring and the fruition, but two say that it is not necessary, for there is no doubt here and for sure it is not necessary to have a leap year, the individual is nullified in his minority [status]. Two [judges] who say to appoint a Jewish court and one [judge] says not to appoint [a Jewish court], we follow after the two [judges], and we add two other [judges] who will engage in give-and-take in the matter, and hence we have here five. If two [judges] say that we must intercalate [the year] and three [judges] say that it is not necessary, the two are nullified in their minority. [But if] two [judges] say that it is not necessary and three [judges] say that it is necessary, we follow after the majority, and add another two [judges] so that that there will be seven and we intercalate it [i.e., the year]. And the Gemara explains that these three, five and seven correspond to the Priestly Blessing, for there are three words in the first verse, and in the second, five [words] and in the third [verse] seven [words], and the Halakah is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.