Sanhedrin 45: Nakedness, Modesty, Disabilities, Stoning, Hanging & Witchcraft

The Gemara considers whether or not men and women convicted of a crime punishable by stoning should both be stripped naked with just a small cloth covering them.  The use of the male pronoun is used here as inclusive.  Rabbi Yochanan was not concerned about women's modesty?  We are reminded of his description of the sota's trial, where the priest rips her shirt until her heart, or her chest, is revealed.  

The rabbis teach that the evil inclination only controls that which the eyes see.  Women should be chastened by their nakedness, which is considered to be more important that the risk that others will be sexually aroused by them.  At the same time, the rabbis and Rabbi Yehuda agree that degradation should be minimized even if physical comfort is increased.  Thus when naked, people being stoned will not prolong their discomfort before death.

A new Mishna teaches about the actual death of one convicted.  S/he is pushed by the hips over a drop that is twice the height of an ordinary person.  One of the witnesses does the pushing, and the convicted person is to land face up.  If s/he lands face down, s/he is turned by the hips by the witness.  If s/he dies by the force of the fall, the law has been fulfilled.  If s/he does not die in the fall, the second witness casts a stone prepared for this purpose at the person's chest.  If s/he dies, then the punishment is fulfilled.  If not, all of the Jewish people throw stones at the person convicted until he dies.

The Gemara discusses what might be the most compassionate road toward death.  Should a convicted person not fall from even higher?  If s/he does not die but is disfigured from this fall, however, s/he will suffer a more painful death.  The rabbis consider the different types of punishments that result in death and some of the limitations of each process.

A question arises regarding those with disabilities.  What about a person who is lame? Deaf? Blind? etc.  The answer notes what the Torah says about a rebellious son.  When it omits any mention of those different features, the rabbis argue that the verse is suggesting that we do not punish these people in the same ways as others. 

Another new Mishna shares that there are two opinions about who should be hung after they are killed in punishment: all people? or only those who have blasphemed or worshipped idols?  Male corpses are said to be hung facing outward while women are hung facing the tree, for reasons of modesty.  Some say that women should not be hung at all.  It is said that Shimon ben Shata hung eighty women convicted of witchcraft in one day.  Most people must be convicted and punished within one day and so only one case is heard each day; this was an unusual circumstance.*

The Gemara considers who entreats G-d and who speaks with impudence.  The poor and the rich are considered, as are Moshe and Joshua.  Other examples of speaking with belligerence, including Pinchas, are shared as well.  The rabbis then look at what was to be done when the people of Israel crossed into the land.  

*I should hope that it was an unusual circumstance for children to lose their mothers, men to lose their wives, parents to lost their daughters all on one day.