תּוספֿתּא אויף דברים 19:15

Channanya ben Chakhinai said, "And denies against his neighbor (Leviticus 5:21): A person does not deny his neighbor until he denies an Essential Principle." Once Rabbi Reuven was in Tiberius on Shabbat. He was found [there] by a philosopher. He said to him, "Who is the most hated one in the world?" He said to him, "One who denies the One who created him. Who is that one? [The one that God] said to him, Honor your father and your mother[...] Do not commit murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify[...] Do not covet (Exodus 20:12-14). A person does not deny his neighbor until he denies a Major Principle, and a person does not go to a matter of sin unless he has denied the One who commanded him about it." The voice of an alah (Leviticus 5:1): Rabbi Yehudah says, "An alah is a curse. The voice [is an] oath." Rabbi Shimon says, "An alah is an oath. These are [oaths] with appellations [of God]: I am the One who binds you, I am the One who shackles you, by the Righteous, by the Pure, by the Just. [If one makes an oath with these,] he is liable." And he were a witness (Leviticus 5:1): And he were a witness, and not a witness who [only] heard from a witness, and not from a heavenly voice, and not from an echo. And he were a witness, Scripture is speaking about [a case of] two witnesses; or is it only one witness? Hence we learn to say, One witness may not arise against a man (Deuteronomy 19:15). Hence we should not learn to say one [witness]. Rather, every place where Scripture took the expression, witness, by itself, behold it includes two unless Scripture specifies one to you.

What should I say? Lest you say — we saw him with a sword in his hand running after his fellow. [The latter] entered a store in front of him, [the pursuer] entered after him, and we entered after him and found him killed, and a sword was in the hand of the murderer, stained with blood; lest you say — if not him, who killed him? Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach said, "I will not see the consolation of Israel if I did not [once] see one person with a sword in his hand running after his fellow. [The latter] entered a ruin in front of him, [the pursuer] entered after him, and I entered after him and found him killed, and a sword was in the hand of the murderer, dripping with blood. And I said to him, 'Wicked person, who has killed this one? Either you or I killed him. But what can I do to you, since your punishment is not given over to me. As behold, the Torah stated, by the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death (Deuteronomy 19:15). Rather, the One who knows one’s thoughts will punish this man.'" They did not move from there before a snake came and bit him, and he died.