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Today's Mishnah Yomi

Makkos 1:4 - 1:5

The Mishnah Yomi for Saturday, January 25, 2025 is Makkos 1:4 - 1:5

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Mishnah 1

Mishnayos Makkos Perek 1 Mishnah 4

מכות פרק א׳ משנה ד׳

4
Witnesses are not rendered conspiring witnesses until the witnesses who come to render them conspiring impeach the witnesses themselves and not merely their testimony. How so? A set of witnesses said: We testify with regard to a man called so-and-so that he killed a person, and they attested to the precise time and place that the murder took place. Then, a second set of witnesses came to court and said to them: How can you testify about this event? This person who was killed, or this person who killed, was with us, i.e., with the second set of witnesses, on that day in such and such place, which is not the location identified by the first set of witnesses. In that case, although the second set of witnesses contradicted the testimony of the first set, these first witnesses are not rendered conspiring witnesses. But if the second set of witnesses came to court and said to them: How can you testify about that event? You were with us on that day in such and such place. In this case, these first witnesses are rendered conspiring witnesses, and are executed on the basis of their, i.e., the second set’s, testimony.
אֵין הָעֵדִים נַעֲשִׂים זוֹמְמִין עַד שֶׁיָּזוֹמוּ אֶת עַצְמָן. כֵּיצַד, אָמְרוּ מְעִידִין אָנוּ בְאִישׁ פְּלוֹנִי שֶׁהָרַג אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ, אָמְרוּ לָהֶן הֵיאַךְ אַתֶּם מְעִידִין, שֶׁהֲרֵי נֶהֱרָג זֶה אוֹ הַהוֹרֵג הָיָה עִמָּנוּ אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם בְּמָקוֹם פְּלוֹנִי, אֵין אֵלּוּ זוֹמְמִין. אֲבָל אָמְרוּ לָהֶם הֵיאַךְ אַתֶּם מְעִידִין, שֶׁהֲרֵי אַתֶּם הֱיִיתֶם עִמָּנוּ אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם בְּמָקוֹם פְּלוֹנִי, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ זוֹמְמִין, וְנֶהֱרָגִין עַל פִּיהֶם:
ד׳

Until they themselves are zommemized. That you zommemize them regarding their own [testimony] matters, and not the matters regarding the murderer and the murdered one, as it will go to explain. We derive this from the verse as it is written (Deuteronomy 19:18) "And behold the witness is a false witness", [this teaches us that they are not zommemized] until you falsify their status as witnesses.

עד שיזומו עצמן. שיזומו אותן בעסקי גופן, לא בעסקי ההורג [וההרוג], כדמפרש ואזיל. ונפקא לן מקרא דכתיב (דברים י״ט) והנה עד שקר העד, עד שיהיה השקר בגופן של עדים:

Mishnah 2

Mishnayos Makkos Perek 1 Mishnah 5

מכות פרק א׳ משנה ה׳

5
If other witnesses, i.e., a third set, came and corroborated the testimony of the first set of witnesses, and the second set of witnesses testified that this third set of witnesses were also with them elsewhere that day and rendered them conspiring witnesses, and similarly, if yet other witnesses, i.e., a fourth set, came and corroborated the testimony of the first set of witnesses and the second set rendered them conspiring witnesses, even if one hundred sets of witnesses were all rendered conspiring witnesses by the same second set of witnesses, all of them are executed on the basis of their testimony, as the authority of two witnesses is equivalent to the authority of numerous witnesses. Rabbi Yehuda says: This situation where a set of witnesses renders all the others conspiring witnesses is a conspiracy [istatit], as there is room for suspicion that they simply decided to impeach all witnesses who offer that testimony, and it is only the first set alone that is executed.
בָּאוּ אֲחֵרִים וְהִזִּימוּם, בָּאוּ אֲחֵרִים וְהִזִּימוּם, אֲפִלּוּ מֵאָה, כֻּלָּם יֵהָרֵגוּ. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אִסְטָסִית הִיא זוֹ, וְאֵינָהּ נֶהֱרֶגֶת אֶלָּא כַת הָרִאשׁוֹנָה בִלְבָד:
ה׳

Even if there were a hundred. pairs that testified one after the other with one testimony and one pair zommemizes all of them, all of them are killed.

This is a conspiracy. This [word istetit] means that this group has strayed and are on the wrong path, as they schemed between themselves to zommemize all the witnesses that come to testify in this case. Another explanation of "this is an istetit", is these witnesses are shooters of istis, that it colors all that touch it.

Only the first group is killed. Since Rabbi Yehudah holds that after the first group is zommemized, the testimony of a second group that comes is no longer accepted, and if [a second group does in fact] testify and is zommemized, they are not killed, since we don't apply [the verse] "do to them", since we would not kill based off their [the second group's] testimony. The halacha is not like Rabbi Yehudah.

ואפילו היו מאה. כתות שהעידו זו אחר זו בעדות אחת וכת אחת הזימה את כולן, כולן יהרגו:

איסטטית היא זאת. כלומר זאת הכת סרה וסטיא היא, שכך נטלו עצה ביניהן להזים כל הבא להעיד בעדות זאת. פירוש אחר איסטסית היא זו, וכי עדות זו יורה של איסטיס היא שצובעת כל הנוגע בה:

ואינה נהרגת אלא כת ראשונה בלבד. דסבירא ליה לר׳ יהודה דלאחר דאתזמא לה כת ראשונה, תו לא מקבלים סהדותא דכת שניה דאתיא לאסהד בתרה, ואי אסהדה ואיתזמא לא קטלינן לה, דלא קרינן לה ועשיתם לו, דהא לא קטלינן אפומה. ואין הלכה כר׳ יהודה:

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