Makkos - Daf 2
- עדים זוממין who receive malkus: testimony that someone is a חלל, or liable to גלות
The opening Mishnah states: כיצד העדים נעשים זוממין – how do witnesses become zomemin? If witnesses testified that a Kohen is the son of a גרושה – divorcee or חלוצה, and so is a חלל (a disqualified Kohen), and were found to be lying through hazamah, אין אומרים יעשה זה בן גרושה או בן חלוצה תחתיו – we do not say, “Let this [false witness] be rendered a divorcee’s son or chalutzah’s son (i.e., a חלל) in his place (the ordinary punishment for עדים זוממין, אלא לוקה ארבעים – Rather, each receives forty lashes. Similarly, if עדים testified that someone is liable to exile for inadvertently killing someone, and they were found zomemin, the witnesses are not liable to גלות but receive malkus. עדים זוממין cannot be made חללים because the passuk says: "ועשיתם לו כאשר זמם" – and you shall do to him as he planned, implying: "לו" ולא לזרעו – to him, but not to his offspring, and a חלל’s children are also חללים. Disqualifying him alone and not his children would not match his attempted plot. עדים זוממין are not punished with גלות because the passuk says: "הוא ינוס אל אחת הערים" – he shall flee to one of [these] cities of refuge, implying: "הוא" ולא זוממין – he, but not zomemin.
- Source that עדים זוממין receive malkus when כאשר זמם is impossible ("והצדיקו...")
Ulla said: רמז לעדים זוממין מן התורה מנין – where is there a hint to zomemin witnesses in the Torah, meaning that they receive malkus (where כאשר זמם is impossible)? The passuk says: והצדיקו את הצדיק והרשיעו את הרשע והיה אם בן הכות הרשע – “and they exonerate the innocent one and convict the guilty one. Then it will be that the guilty one is liable to lashes…” Just because one party in a dispute is found “innocent” (exempt) and the other is found “guilty” (liable), does the “guilty” party receive malkus?! Rather, the passuk refers to false witnesses who caused an innocent person’s conviction, and other witnesses came forward, והצדיקו את הצדיק דמעיקרא – “and exonerated the one who was innocent” originally, ושוינהו להני רשעים – and established these false witnesses as guilty ones. There, “the guilty one is liable to lashes” if כאשר זמם cannot be administered. The Gemara asks why he did not say they receive malkus for violating "לא תענה" – you shall not bear false witness, and answers that it is a לאו שאין בו מעשה – prohibition which has no physical action, which does not ordinarily incur malkus.
- Other exceptions to כאשר זמם: they do not pay כופר, and are not sold as an עבד עברי
A Baraisa lists four cases of עדים זוממין who are not punished with כאשר זמם, beginning with the two cases of our Mishnah. (3) ואין משלמין את הכופר – And they do not pay kofer when they falsely testified that someone’s mu’ad animal killed a person. This Baraisa holds: כופרא כפרה – kofer is an atonement for the owner’s negligence in allowing his mu’ad animal to kill someone, והני לאו בני כפרה נינהו – and these [עדים זוממין] are not subject to such atonement. (4) ואין נמכרין בעבד עברי – And they are not sold as a Jewish slave for falsely testifying that someone should be sold as an עבד עברי for stealing. Rav Hamnuna concluded that this applies whether the victim or the עדים have money (since the victim would not have been sold if he has money), but if neither has money, they are sold. Rava disagrees, because the passuk says a person is sold "בגנבתו" – for his theft, ולא בזממו – but not for his false testimony. Rebbe Akiva adds that עדים זוממין do not pay based on their own confession, because he holds the hazamah punishment is a קנסא – fine, which one does not pay based on his confession.
