Sanhedrin 65b (סה:) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Zeira raised an objection:

For we learned in Torat Kohanim, in the passage concerning the sin-offering, from what is written, “And he shall do

The conspiring witnesses are excluded,

for even if they mistakenly violated the prohibition against conspiring witnesses, they are exempt from a sin-offering, because

there is no action involved.

But why

is the movement of their lips not considered an action, and why are they not like one who curses God, since

that one is not liable merely for what is in the heart!

They are not liable to the death penalty intentionally for the thought in their hearts, but for their actions; if so, why should they not be liable to bring an offering if they mistakenly violated the prohibition against giving false testimony?

The Gemara answers:

Rava said: Conspiring witnesses are different, since their liability is present through the voice.

Their primary liability is not for the movement of their lips, but for the voice of the testimony that they make heard in court, and making a voice heard does not involve an action.

But the Gemara rejects this:

And

is making a

voice heard, according to Rabbi Yohanan, not considered an action?

But was it not stated:

With regard to one who works with his animal threshing grain, the Torah says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is threshing,” and he violated this prohibition, and he

muzzled it through his voice,

by raising his voice at the animal with which he was working and frightening it away from eating; and he

drove it through his voice,

or one who drove an ox and a donkey together by means of his voice—

Rabbi Yohanan said: He is liable, and Reish Lakish said: He is exempt.

The Gemara explains:

Rabbi Yohanan said: He is liable; the movement of his mouth is considered an action.

Reish Lakish said: He is exempt; the movement of his mouth is not considered

an action.

Rather, Rava said: Conspiring witnesses are different,

as they are exempt from a sin-offering

since their liability is present through seeing .

The Sages taught: “A ba'al ov”

is one who makes the voice speak between the joints,

making the voice of the dead heard as though the dead person were speaking from between the joints of his fingers or hands,

and from between his armpits.

“A yideoni”

is one who places a bone

of a living creature called

“known” in his mouth, and it speaks on its own.

The Gemara raises an objection

from that which is written in Isaiah [chapter 29]:

“And your voice shall be like that of a ba'al ov from the earth.”

What, is it not referring to one who speaks

so that the dead person speaks

in his usual manner,

as he lies in the grave, and not from between the joints?!

The Gemara answers:

No,

that is not what the prophet intended. Rather,

he rises and sits,

as though the dead person rises from the grave and sits

between the joints, and speaks,

and from there he speaks.

Come and hear

from that which is written in I Samuel, chapter 28:

“And the woman

who was a ba'alat ov

said to Saul, ‘I see divine beings rising from the earth.’”

What, is it not referring to one who speaks in his usual manner,

so that he spoke while remaining in his usual position, lying in the grave, and therefore his voice was muffled?

The Gemara answers:

No, he sits between the joints and speaks.

But his voice is low, because it is the voice of the dead, which has no vitality.

The Sages taught: A ba'al ov—whether one who raises

the dead and seats him

in

the place of

his memory,

from which he speaks,

or one who is consulted through a skull

of a dead person lying on the ground and speaking because of the sorcery of the ba'al ov.

What is the difference between this one and that one?

The one who

raises him through his memory—

the dead person does not rise

in

his usual manner,

but rises as though his feet were above and his head below,

and he does not rise on Shabbat.

One who is consulted through a skull—

he rises in his usual manner,

while lying down,

and he rises on Shabbat.

The Gemara wonders about what the beraita said concerning the skull, that it “rises in its usual manner”:

It rises? Where does it rise to? It is lying before him!

The skull does not rise from the grave; it is lying before him!

The Gemara answers:

Rather, say: It answers in its usual manner, and it answers on Shabbat.

And this question was also posed by the wicked Turnus Rufus to Rabbi Akiva. He said to him: Why is the day

of Shabbat different and considered

distinct from the other days,

from every other day?

He said to him: Why are you superior to other men?

Why are you considered worthy of being a governor rather than others?!

He said to him: Because my master desires it,

because this is what my master commanded me.

Rabbi Akiva said to him:

Shabbat too is so because our Master desires it;

our Master commanded us concerning it.

He said to him: This is what I am saying to you: Who says that today is Shabbat?

What proof is there that Shabbat is on the seventh day and not on another day?

He said to him: The Sambatyon River will prove it,

as it ceases to cast its stones on Shabbat.

The ba'al ov will prove it,

as the dead person does not rise on Shabbat.

The grave of his father

Turnus Rufus, who was wicked,

will prove it, for it does not emit smoke on Shabbat.

For Gehenna rests on Shabbat.

He said to him: You have insulted him,

my father,

, shamed him, and cursed him,

you have blasphemed him.

The Gemara discusses this: Seemingly,

one who consults a ba'al ov is identical to “one who seeks the dead,”

so why did Scripture mention both of them in one place?

The Gemara explains: “

One who seeks the dead”

does not refer to one who consults a ba'al ov. Rather, he is

as it was taught: [

Deuteronomy 18 ]

“And one who seeks the dead”—

this is one who starves himself and goes and sleeps in a cemetery so that a spirit of impurity will rest upon him,

so that the demon of the cemetery will befriend him and assist him with his sorcery.

And when Rabbi Akiva reached this verse, he would weep,

and say:

If one who starves himself so that a spirit of impurity will rest upon him—

a spirit of impurity rests upon him—one who starves himself

through fasting and supplication

so that

a spirit of purity will rest upon him—

all the more so,

that a spirit of purity should have rested upon us.

But what can I do, for our sins have caused us

that despite our fasting and supplication, a spirit of purity does not rest upon us,

as it is stated

[Isaiah 59]:

“For your sins have separated between you and your God.”

Rava said: If the righteous wished

to be entirely free of every sin,

they could create a world,

they would be able to create a world,

as it is stated: “For your sins have separated [between you and your God],” and so on.

This implies that if the sins had not separated them, there would have been no separation between them and the Holy One, blessed be He.

Rava created a man

through the Sefer Yetzira.

He sent him

to

before Rabbi Zeira.

He was speaking with him,

speaking to him,

but he would not answer him,

for he had no power of speech.

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira:

You are from the fellowship;

you are one of the creatures created by the “fellowship.”

Return to your dust!

Return to your dust.

Rav Hanina and Rav Oshaya would sit every Friday eve,

they would sit every Friday eve,

and engage in the Sefer Yetzira, and create for themselves a third-grown calf,

and they would create a “third-grown calf,”

and eat it.

The Sages taught:

What is

“one who practices divination”

that the Torah prohibited?—

Rabbi Shimon says: This is one who passes seven types of semen

semen taken from seven creatures

over the eye.

By means of this he performs sorcery.

And the Sages say: This is one who deceives the eyes.

He deceives people’s eyes, making it appear as though he is performing astonishing acts, although in reality he is doing nothing.

Rabbi Akiva says: This is one who calculates auspicious and inauspicious times and hours

that are suitable or unsuitable for success, and he is called by this term from the language of “times,”

and says: Today is a good day to set out

on a journey, whereas

tomorrow is a good day to purchase

merchandise in the market and profit from it. Or he says:

“My learning,”

is customarily done on

the eve of Sabbatical years—

the wheat is good.

Or he says:

“Uproot the legumes before they become bad.”

If the legumes are uprooted and not harvested in a manner that would allow them to be harvested again, then they do not become worm-infested or rot.

The Sages taught: “One who practices divination,”

that the Torah prohibited,

is one who says:

If

his bread fell from his mouth,

he must fear harm throughout that entire day; and likewise one must fear harm throughout the entire day if

his staff fell from his hand,

or if

his son called to him from behind.

Or if

a raven called to him,

or if

a deer blocked his path,

or if there was

a snake on his right and a fox on his left,

all these are a bad omen for him.