Tractate Sanhedrin opened with a discussion about which courts have the power to take a human life. It now draws to a close by contemplating the most severe punishment a court can inflict: the utter destruction of an idolatrous city. This means not only slaughtering the inhabitants, but burning their property. Amidst that grim image, today’s daf lingers on two exceptions to this decree: sacred books and rooted trees.
The sages taught in a beraita: If there are trees in the idolatrous city that are detached from the ground, they are forbidden (and must be burned); if they are attached to the ground they are permitted (i.e., not destroyed). By contrast, trees of another city, whether detached or attached, are forbidden.
This last statement is curious: What is the “other city”? What city suffered a destruction so complete it lost not only its inhabitants and their property but even its rooted trees? For the answer, the rabbis reach deep into biblical history for what is perhaps, next to Sodom, the most legendary account of a city destroyed:
Rav Hisda says that city is Jericho, as it is written: “And the city shall be devoted, it and all that is in it, to the Lord … And Joshua charged them at that time by oath, saying: The man that rises up to build this city, Jericho, shall be cursed before the Lord; Jericho’s foundations shall be laid at the cost of his first-born, and its gates set up at the cost of his youngest.” (Joshua 6:17, 26)
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world.
Your donation to My Jewish Learning fuels endless journeys of Jewish discovery. With your help, My Jewish Learning can continue to provide nonstop opportunities for learning, connection and growth.
Joshua’s curse is frightful: Not only is Jericho to be laid waste, but anyone who attempts to rebuild it will be punished with the death of their own beloved children. In 1 Kings 16, this actually happened. Hiel, a subject of King Ahab, tried to rebuild Jericho, and as a consequence two of his sons died.
The Gemara on today’s daf imagines a difficult discussion that took place in that solemn house of mourning for Hiel’s sons. Hiel bemoans that his children have died in accordance with Joshua’s curse, and the prophet Elijah confirms it is so. But Ahab has a different take:
Ahab said to Elijah: “Now the curse of Moses is not fulfilled, as it is written: ‘And you go astray and worship other gods,’ and it is written: ‘Then the Lord’s anger will flare against you, and He will close the heavens, and there will be no rain.’ (Deuteronomy 11:16–17) And that man (referring to himself) established an object of idol worship on each and every furrow in the kingdom of Israel, and the rain is so plentiful that it does not allow him to go and worship it. So will the curse of his student, Joshua, really be fulfilled?”
Ahab points out that Moses cursed the Israelites too, declaring that idolatry would prevent rain from falling. Yet Ahab himself set up idolatrous worship and rain remained plentiful. If Moses’ curse was ineffective, Ahab argues, then perhaps Joshua’s was as well.
According to the rabbis, this discussion inspired Elijah to immediately ask God for the keys to the rain. When God grants them, Elijah himself locks up the heavens — effectively fulfilling Moses’ curse and causing enormous suffering throughout the land.
This deceptively simple story wrestles with an anxiety about the most terrible and consequential punishments — whether they are just and whether they will actually be meted out. It is an anxiety that has run throughout Tractate Sanhedrin, as we have seen the rabbis consistently assert that sanctioned courts not only have permission, but a duty to execute people who violate certain commandments. At the same time, the rabbis have consistently circumscribed the practical power of the courts to do so. This tendency reached its logical conclusion a few days ago when a beraita, later ascribed to Rabbi Eliezer, declared that no city ever was or ever will be declared an idolatrous city. That ultimate punishment, as far as the rabbis are concerned, is purely theoretical.
Today’s story of Hiel, Ahab and Elijah suggests that God shares the rabbis’ anxiety. As Ahab rightly points out, God did not fulfill the terms of Moses’ curse. It was Elijah who fulfilled it. And even this punishment was ultimately short-circuited when God wished to alleviate another kind of suffering, as the story concludes:
And it is written: “And it came to pass after these matters, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick.” (I Kings 17:17) Elijah prayed for mercy, for God to give him the key to the resurrection of the dead. They said to him from Heaven: Three keys are not typically passed to an agent: The key to a woman in childbirth, the key to rainfall, and the key to the resurrection of the dead. People will say: Two keys are in the possession of the student and one key is in the possession of the Master. Bring Me this key to rainfall, and take this key to the resurrection of the dead. Due to Elijah’s request, he was forced to revoke his oath, as it is written: “Go, appear before Ahab; and I will give rain.” (I Kings 18:1)
So that Elijah can resurrect the righteous woman’s dead son, God grants him the key to resurrection, but in so doing takes back the key to rainfall because it is inappropriate for Elijah to have two of God’s three special keys. As soon as Elijah relinquishes the key to the rain, precipitation returns to Ahab’s idolatry-ridden kingdom. God opts for mercy for the woman’s son over punishment for an entire idolatrous country.
It is difficult to contemplate terrible crimes. But it may be even more difficult to contemplate terrible punishments. In this final story of Tractate Sanhedrin, we see that God, confronted with a choice between justice and mercy, chooses mercy for a single person even at the expense of letting an entire city of idolaters escape punishment.
Read all of Sanhedrin 113 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on April 9, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
