In tractate Bava Kama, we learned about a goring ox — that is, an ox that has a reputation for goring humans. The Torah stipulates (Exodus 21:29) that the owner of such an ox is put on notice and, should it gore again, both the ox and the owner are to be put to death. In the opening mishnah of Sanhedrin, we learned that the trial for such an ox is conducted by a panel of 23 judges, just like that of its owner.
On today’s daf, the Gemara asks about a related matter:
A dilemma was raised before the sages: By how many judges would an ox at Mount Sinai have been judged?
The biblical narrative explains that as the Israelites were preparing to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai, they were forbidden from approaching the mountain: “Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death without being touched — by being either stoned or shot; beast or person, a trespasser shall not live.” (Exodus 19:12-13). The Gemara assumes that just as a goring ox stands trial before being put to death, so should an ox that trespassed on Mount Sinai during the revelation.
The Gemara is quick to point out that at issue here is a general legal principle — whether we can derive the rules for what to do in a particular case (i.e. a trespasser on Mount Sinai during the three days leading up to the giving of the Torah) from the general rule (that an ox standing trial in a capital case is judged by 23). In response, the Gemara relates the following:
Rami bar Yehezkel taught: “Whether animal or man it shall not live.” (Exodus 19:13) Just as a person (is judged) by 23 judges, so too an animal by 23.
In other words, since the verses that prohibit approaching Mount Sinai apply equally to people and animals, we can assume that the number of judges ruling in the case of the trespassing ox should be the same as that of a trespassing person. And so, we have no need to derive the rules for this specific case from the general one, as the Torah has provided us direction about this specific case.
Having settled the matter, the Gemara moves on, but I’m not quite ready to. It’s hard to imagine that those who ignored the boundaries and climbed Mount Sinai stood trial for having done so. The biblical commentators agree. Some explain that Exodus instructs those who observe a person or animal violating the boundaries not to cross the boundary themselves to bring the trespassers back to safety, but to execute them with rocks or arrows. Others suggest that those who fail to observe the boundaries do so at their own peril as they will surely be struck by some projectile and die. Either way, neither of these readings support the notion that a trial is meant to precede the punishment.
Further, even if a person or animal were to climb the mountain and survive, the suggestion that they would stand trial before 23 judges does not fit with the biblical narrative. True, prior to the revelation narrative, we read about how Moses’ father-in-law Yitro advises him to set up a court system to help alleviate his workload. But the system Moses creates gives individual judges jurisdiction over the Israelites. It never even hints at a court of more than one judge, let alone 23.
More likely is that the rabbis of the Talmud were deeply uncomfortable with the notion that the Torah appears to be sanctioning summary execution. As we’ll see in the pages ahead, they do what they can to minimize situations in which capital punishment is applied. One of the ways that they do so is by ensuring that those accused of capital offenses get their day in court. And to buttress the legitimacy of this instinct, they imagine that this practice extends retroactively to animals that may have inadvertently wandered up the mountain in the days leading up to the giving of the Torah.
Read all of Sanhedrin 15 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on January 1, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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