ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף דברים 17:12

If he returned to his town and taught again as he did before, he is not liable. But if he gave a practical decision, he is guilty, for it says, “Should a man act presumptuously” (Deut. 17:12) he is liable only for a practical ruling. But if a disciple gave a practical decision [opposed to the court], he is exempt: thus his stringency is his leniency. This section lists under what circumstances the elder is to be deemed guilty and therefore executed. If he continues to teach as he was teaching previously, thereby ignoring the verdict of the high court, but does not tell others to act according to this teaching, he is not guilty. This is learned from the word “to do” in the verse in Deuteronomy. One is allowed to disagree with the high court, but not to incite others to act against their rulings. A student, who is never allowed to give practical halachic rulings, who does give a practical halachic ruling, and that ruling is against that of the high court, is also not to be executed. Since his ruling is not authoritative in any case, because he is only a student, it is not considered to be the type of rebellion punished by death. The stringency that disallows a student from teaching is the leniency that gets him off the hook if he teaches contradictory to the high court.

[These two types of decision-making – practical decision making, and legislation that establishes the halacha for generations] – is described in the Torah portion about the rebellious scholar.¹⁴This refers to an acknowledged, ordained sage who is qualified to sit on the Sanhedrin, but who defies the decision of the majority and rules that it is permitted to act contrary to the Sanhedrin’s decision. There it states: “If there is a man [who is ordained and sits on the Great Sanhedrin]¹⁵Sanhedrin 87a. who rebels and refuses to listen to the Kohen [priest] who is in charge of serving God your Lord there, or to the shofet [judge]….”¹⁶Deut. 17:12. This [verse] is cryptic, for why would a Kohen be involved in legislation? If the word “kohen” is referring to the head of the court, let the verse describe him as a shofet.

However, this is not a question at all, for R. Eliezer ben Yaakov says that the verse, “You must approach the scholarly priests and the shofet who are alive at that time”²¹According to R. Eliezer the verse is translated as follows: “You must approach the scholarly priests together with the shofet.” implies appearing before all the members of the court, meaning the Sanhedrin, together with the most distinguished judge among them being referred to as a shofet. Most courts were valid even though they consisted of judges from various tribes. However, ordinarily they consisted mainly of priests and Levites,²²The priests were associated with the court since they were supported by the community and could therefore devote their time to Torah study. See Ha’amek Davar, Deut. 10:8. and therefore it is understandable that [according to R. Eliezer ben Yaakov], the word shofet in that verse refers to the most distinguished member of the priests of the Sanhedrin – i.e., the Kohen Gadol [the High Priest]. [However], the other [previously cited] verse²³Deut. 17:12 regarding the rebellious judge. states, “If there is a man²⁴Sanhedrin 87a applies this to an individual who is ordained and qualified to be sitting on the Great Sanhedrin. who rebels and refuses to listen to the kohen who is in charge of serving the Lord your God there, or to the shofet….”²⁵The word “or” indicates that the kohen is separate from the shofet. It is the priest who is charged with “serving God,” not [functioning as a] shofet, and therefore the word shofet in that verse must refer to [judges from] other tribes. One can further explain that according to R. Eliezer ben Yaakov, [shofet] is [to be translated as] “most outstanding judge,” which includes the two types of outstanding judges: the High Priest [who renders decisions with special Divine assistance] or a Judge from a tribe other than Levi [who legislates with deep analysis and debate].²⁶The verse is to be translated as “You must approach [the Sanhendrin] consisting of the scholarly priests, together with the most outstanding judge….” [Thus, R. Eliezer ben Yaakov would agree that shofet in Deut. 17:12 is representative of the process of legistlation.]

וכל העם ישמעו AND ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL HEAR [AND FEAR] — From here we derive the law that they wait for him (i.e. defer the execution of a זקן ממרא, an elder who disregards the decision of the Supreme Court, to whom Scripture refers in v. 12 by the words והאיש אשר יעשה בזדון) until the next festival (when all Israel is assembled in Jerusalem) and they put him to death at the season of the festival (Sanhedrin 89a).