D’tzach, Adash, B’achav
‘Everyone Is Qualified To Judge’
(Sanhedrin 36b)
The first Mishna in our perek asserts that “everyone is authorized to judge financial cases.” Rabbi Yehuda explains in our sugya that “everyone” includes a mamzer (someone born of an incestuous or otherwise Biblically forbidden relationship), though he cannot serve as a dayan (judge) in cases involving the death penalty.
Rabbi Yehuda is also cited in the Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin 4:7), but the Yerushalmi adds that “Rabbi Yehuda says we should not be exacting in the particulars of yayin nesech” due to the verse (Exodus 23:6), “Do not distort the judgment of your poor in their argument.” What does yayin nesech have to do with dayanim and, in general, should we be lenient with yayin nesech? We all know the great care we take about wine, having it sealed, keeping it far from gentiles, etc., yet Rabbi Yehuda says we should not be exacting in this regard?
We should also wonder about the statement by Rabbeinu Yaakov of Vienna, one of the Rishonim, who notes further that the halacha to be lenient with yayin nesech is based on the aforementioned verse: “Do not distort the judgment of your poor in their argument.” The Damesek Eliezer also quotes a surprising midrash: “Do not distort the judgment of your poor in their argument,” deriving that from here we learn that yayin nesech is forbidden by the Torah.
In Search Of An Explanation
Many explanations have been offered for the link between this verse and yayin nesech, but several of them are rejected by the commentary Mareh HaPanim on the Yerushalmi: “I have seen and heard several ‘errors’ [explanations in error] about this interpretation and they speak nonsense.”
Some explain Rabbi Yehuda’s recommended leniency for yayin nesech in that he meant we should sometimes be lenient. The Semag (Lavin 148), for instance, rules that a gentile carpenter may repair a crack in a non-Jew’s barrel of wine, as non-Jews do not offer wine to their idols in this way (Mareh HaPanim, ibid.).
A Lenient Signature
Other commentators offer more explanations (see Responsa Maharshal 76), but we must still ponder why the Yerushalmi linked this halacha to those pertaining to dayanim.
Some commentators on the Yerushalmi remark that the halachos were placed next to each other to note Rabbi Yehuda’s leniency in both matters: He allows a mamzer to be a dayan and is lenient in the matter of yayin nesech (Pnei Moshe, Mareh HaPanim; see Responsa of the Rosh, Kelal 19, and Responsa Tzemach Tzedek, Kelal 116). We now cite two other interesting solutions.
Novel Reminders
In his Iyunim B’divrei Chazal U’vileshonam, Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentreu, av beis din of Munich, explains the reminder from the aforementioned verse and how it connects to the halachos of yayin nesech. There is a certain type of barrel which is known as uvin (see the Tosefta on Keilim B.K., Zuckermandel edition 2:2). Thus, Rabbi Yehuda says we must not forbid a barrel of wine repaired by a gentile: “Do not distort the judgment of your poor” – evyonecha, similar to uvin – but rather allow it.
YaYin NeSeCh
Another even more surprising solution is offered by Rabbi Reuven Margalios in his Mechakrim B’darchei HaTalmud Ve’chidushav (7). Rabbi Yehuda mentioned by the Yerushalmi is the same recalled in the Haggadah, who gives us an acronym to remember the ten plagues of Egypt: d’tzach, adash, b’achav. Here too, Rabbi Yehuda wanted to give us an acronym to easily remember the halachos pertaining to dayanim.
The letters of yayin nesech stand for certain halachos applying only to cases involving the death penalty:
1) Yud for yom: Cases involving a death penalty are finally ruled on only during the daytime.
2) Yud for yom: Cases involving a death penalty are never decided on the day they start, unless to acquit the accused.
3) Nun for nochri (gentile): A convert must not serve as a dayan in cases involving a death penalty.
4) Nun for nizdaken (the case is “old”): An announcement made at some cases but not others (see 42a).
5) Samech for saris (“an impotent person,” one without children): Such a person must also not serve as a dayan in cases involving a death penalty.
6) Chaf for 20: Someone under 20 years of age without signs of puberty must not serve as a dayan in cases involving a death penalty.
Rabbi Yehuda therefore says that we should not be exacting about these details in financial and property cases. (See Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 4:7, as to 11 differences between property cases and cases involving a death penalty.)
