Translation:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Sanhedrin/Chapter 5/1

Introduction

Sanhedrin deals primarily with the court and with court cases. The fifth chapter of Sanhedrin is focused mostly on testimony and its treatment.

The first mishnah of this chapter deals with checking testimony of witnesses.

Hebrew Text

היו בודקין אותן בשבע חקירות, באיזה שבוע, באיזו שנה, באיזה חדש, בכמה בחדש, באיזה יום, באיזו שעה, באיזה מקום.

רבי יוסי אומר באיזה יום, באיזו שעה, באיזה מקום, מכירין אתם אותו, התריתם בו.

העובד עבודה זרה , את מי עבד, ובמה עבד.

English Translation

You must check (testimony) with seven inquiries: what week, what year, what month, when in the month, what day, what time, and in what place. Rabbi Yosi says: in what day, what hour, and in what place, did you recognize him, did you warn him? For the idolator - what did he worship, how did he worship it?

Explanation

This mishnah is a simple explanation of the questions that must be asked to validate testimony. 'When in the month' refers to the phase of the moon if the event occurred at night. 'What time' refers to the position of the sun in the sky at the time. The dissenting opinion in this mishnah belongs to Rabbi Yosi, who provides only five questions unless the crime is idolatry, in which he provides two more to bring the total to seven.