Sanhedrin 6:4-5

Sanhedrin 6:4

The stoning place was twice a man’s height (i.e., six cubits. We usually use the measure that a cubit is 18” but really, this could be anywhere from nine to 12 feet depending on the opinion followed). One of the witnesses pushes the convicted on his loins; if he turns onto his heart, he turns him onto his loins. If the convicted died from the fall, the sentence has been carried out; if not, the second witness takes a designated stone and drops it on the convicted’s heart. If he dies from this, the sentence has been carried out; if not, he is pelted by all Israel, as per Deuteronomy 17:7, “The hand of the witnesses shall be the first on him to put him to death, and after that the hand of all the people.” Rabbi Eliezer says that the bodies of all those who are stoned are hanged but the Sages say that no one’s body is hanged except for a blasphemer and an idolator. Rabbi Eliezer says that a man’s body is hanged facing the people but a woman’s body is hanged facing the gallows, with her face towards the wood; the Sages say that only a man is hanged, not a woman. Rabbi Eliezer pointed out that Shimon ben Shetach hanged women in Ashkelon; the Sages replied that he hanged 80 women in one day despite the general rule that we do not judge two capital cases in one day. (We see from this that Shimon ben Shetach’s case was an extra-legal emergency so we cannot derive standard operating procedure from it.) The convicted is hanged as follows: They sink a pole into the ground with a piece of wood protruding from it. One person brings the executed’s hands together, one on top of the other, and they hang him. Rabbi Yosi says that the pole is leaned against a wall and the executed is hanged in the manner that butchers hang meat. The body is then taken down immediately because leaving it there overnight would violate a Torah prohibition, as per Deuteronomy 21:23, “His body may not remain on the gallows overnight; you shall surely bury him the same day because one who is hanged is a disgrace to God.” Why was this person hanged? Because he cursed God’s Name (and was therefore “a disgrace to God”).

Sanhedrin 6:5

Rabbi Meir said that when a person is punished for his sins, God’s Presence metaphorically expresses grief by saying, “I am lighter than My head, I am lighter than My arm.” (This is wordplay. “Kalani” – “I am lighter” – is linguistically similar to “kil’las Elokim” – the aforementioned “disgrace to God.”) If God grieves over the deaths of the wicked, how much more He must grieve over the deaths of the righteous! Not only that, if someone causes the dead to remain unburied overnight, he violates a Torah prohibition. If they caused him to remain unburied for the deceased’s honor, such as to bring him a coffin and shrouds, then one does not violate a prohibition. They would not bury an executed person in his family plot. Rather, two cemeteries were prepared for those executed by the court – one for those who were beheaded or strangled (the “easier” deaths) and one for those who were stoned or burned (the “harsher” deaths – in order to separate those executed by the severity of their crimes).