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The Conceptual Distinction Between “Shnei” and “Shnayim”

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The Conceptual Distinction Between “Shnei” and “Shnayim” Rav Silver relates in his work Anfei Erez, that in the year 5674 (1913-1914) when he visited his former teacher, Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, the renowned author of the Ohr Somayach, from Harrisburg, PA, where he was then serving as the rabbi, he shared the following Torah insight with Rav Meir Simcha, who was highly impressed by his explanation and praised it. In America, he had been asked about the unusual way the Torah describes two witnesses in Devarim 17:6: :עַל פִּי שְׁנַיִם עֵדִים אוֹ שְׁלֹשָׁה עֵדִים יוּמַת הַמֵּת, לֹא יוּמַת עַל פִּי עֵד אֶחָד At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. which is an unusual ,שְׁנַיִם עֵדִים ”The Hebrew phrase used for two witnesses is “shnayim eidim which is the phrase the Torah uses ,שְׁנֵי עֵדִים ”grammatical construction. The usual form is “shnei eidim a bit later in Devarim 19:15: לֹא יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ לְכָל עָוֹן וּלְכָל חַטָּאת בְּכָל חֵטְא אֲשֶׁר יֶחֱטָא עַל פִּי שְׁנֵי :עֵדִים אוֹ עַל פִּי שְׁלֹשָׁה עֵדִים יָקוּם דָּבָר One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. for two witnesses, so why שְׁנֵי עֵדִים ”In chapter 19, the Torah uses the standard form of “shnei eidim ?שְׁנַיִם עֵדִים ”earlier in chapter 17 does it use the unusual form of “shnayim eidim Rav Silver explained this inconsistency based on a comment of the Midrash (Tanchuma Ma’asei 6) interpreting the story of Eliyahu’s battle with the false prophets of ba’al in Melachim 1 (18:22), when Eliyahu challenges the false prophets to a sacrifice competition: וְיִתְּנוּ-לָנוּ שְׁנַיִם פָּרִים, וְיִבְחֲרוּ לָהֶם הַפָּר הָאֶחָד וִינַתְּחֻהוּ וְיָשִׂימוּ עַל- הָעֵצִים, וְאֵשׁ, לֹא יָשִׂימוּ; וַאֲנִי .אֶעֱשֶׂה אֶת-הַפָּר הָאֶחָד, וְנָתַתִּי עַל-הָעֵצִים, וְאֵשׁ, לֹא אָשִׂים Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. ”the same form as “shanyim eidim ,שְׁנַיִם פָּרִים ”The phrase used for the two bulls is “shnayim parim :and on this the Midrash in its retelling explains ,שְׁנַיִם עֵדִים אמר להם אליהו בחרו לכם שנים פרים תאומים מאם אחת, הגדילים על אבוס אחד Eliyahu said to them choose two bulls, twins from the same mother, who are growing at the same feed meant that the cows should שְׁנַיִם פָּרִים ”According to the Midrash the challenge to find “shnayim parim not only be similar, but twins, who have shared the same life experiences. This differs from how the Sages describe the two goats which were used on Yom Kippur, called by the Torah :(Mishna Yoma 6:1) ,שְׁנֵי-שְׂעִירֵי עִזִּים ”Vayikra 16:5) “shnei seirei eizim) שְׁנֵי שְׂעִירֵי יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, מִצְוָתָן שֶׁיִּהְיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶן שָׁוִין בְּמַרְאֶה וּבְקוֹמָה וּבְדָמִים וּבִלְקִיחָתָן כְּאֶחָד Check all the Rabbi's Sermons at www.kesherisrael.org Kesher Israel Congregation - All Rights Reserved The two goats of Yom Kippur: it is a requirement that they be alike in appearance, in size, in value, and that they be bought at the same time The Mishna teaches they should be similar to each other, but they don’t need to be twins born from the same mother. Similarly with regard to the two birds the Metzora brings upon becoming pure, described by the Torah the Sages describe it as (Mishna ,שְׁתֵּי-צִפֳּרִים חַיּוֹת ”Vayikra 14:4) as “shtei tziporim chayot) Negaim 14:1): שְׁתֵּי צִפֳּרִים מִצְוָתָן שֶׁיְּהוּ שָׁווֹת בַּמַּרְאֶה וּבַקּוֹמָה וּבַדָּמִים, וּלְקִיחָתָן .כְּאֶחָת With regard to the two birds: the commandment is that they be alike in appearance, in size and in price; and they must be purchased at the same time. Here too, like the two goats, the Sages insist that the two birds should be similar, but no mention is made of שְׁנַיִם ”them being twins, raised together. Why then does the Midrash intrepret the “shnayim parim of Eliyahu as being not only similar to each other, but also twins, who were raised together, and not פָּרִים like these other cases where similarity is required, but not sameness? to mean that not only do the two objects שְׁנַיִם ”Rav Silver explained that the Sages interpret “shnayim שְׁנֵי ”have to be similar, but they must be more fully connected, they must share the same purpose. “Shnei on the other hand does not imply that unity of purpose, but rather that they are similar, without sharing a it implies ,שְׁתֵּי ”or “shtei שְׁנֵי ”unified goal. Since regarding the goats and birds the Torah says “shnei ,שְׁנַיִם ”they must be similar but not the same. Regarding Eliyahu’s bulls though the term is “shnayim which means the same, and so the Midrash explains it as twins. Accordingly this explains the change in terminology of the Torah with regards to witnesses. In chapter 17 the Torah is discussing witnesses in capital cases, while in chapter 19 the Torah is discussing witnesses in financial cases. There is a halachic difference between these two types of witnesses. According to the Gemara (Sanhedrin 30a), the capital case witnesses must testify at the same time, while financial case witnesses may testify at different times (about the same event they both witnessed.) Following the grammatical rule laid out before, in capital cases the witnesses not only agree in substance to since they both join ,שְׁנַיִם ”what they saw, but also must testify together, which is a case of “shnayim together as unified witnesses. But in financial cases, where the witnesses can testify separately, it is more .since they testify to the same event, but not as a unified team שְׁנֵי ”appropriate to label them as “shnei Therefore in chapter 19, regarding financial cases, the Torah implies similarity, but not sameness, whereas in chapter 17, regarding capital cases, the Torah implies sameness. Regarding halachic witnesses this approach not only helps us to understand the grammar of the Torah, but it also imparts a key conceptual distinction. Financial witnesses are not considered partners in their testimony, while capital case witnesses are considered joined into one unit and partners in the process of testimony. The Shaar Mishpat (Choshen Mishpat 410:37) asked a contradiction between the Gemara (Makkos 3a) which states that if there are two witnesses and one is proven to be false and has to pay and the other does not need to pay – the guilty witness only pays his portion, and not his friends portion too. But the general principle in the Gemara (Bava Kamma 53a) is that if two people damage another person, and only one is obligated to pay, he must pay both his portion and his partner’s portion. If so, why in the case of false witnesses if only one is obligated to pay does he not pay the full damages, both his portion and his friend’s portion, in keeping with the rule of damages? Rav Silver explained based on his conceptual distinction between financial witnesses and partners. One has an obligation to pay for the damages of their friend who participated in the act of damaging, because the halacha Check all the Rabbi's Sermons at www.kesherisrael.org Kesher Israel Congregation - All Rights Reserved views them as partners. But financial witnesses are not partners, and therefore there is no obligation to cover the full amount. A witness whose fellow witness does not pay, is not obligated to cover his portion, because they intrinsically have no relationship. This is derived from the Torah’s wording, which makes clear that financial witnesses are not unified through this act. The above would not be true of capital witnesses, where the Torah does view them as partners. Using the above principle Rav Silver explained a number of other Rabbinic passages. When Yehoshua sends spies into the land of Israel it says (Yehoshua 2:1): וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוֹשֻׁעַ-בִּן-נוּן מִן-הַשִּׁטִּים שְׁנַיִם-אֲנָשִׁים מְרַגְּלִים, חֶרֶשׁ לֵאמֹר, לְכוּ רְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-יְרִיחוֹ; וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיָּבֹאוּ בֵּית-אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה, וּשְׁמָהּ .רָחָב–וַיִּשְׁכְּבוּ-שָׁמָּה And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two spies secretly, saying: ‘Go view the land, and Jericho.’ And they went, and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lay there. but their ,שְׁנַיִם-אֲנָשִׁים מְרַגְּלִים ”The two spies are described as “shnayim anashim meraglim names are not used. The Midrash (Tanchuma Shelach 1) identifies them as Calev and Pinchas, two well-known leaders of the Jewish people at the time. How did the Sages know who these two spies were? Rav Silver is used in this regard, it must שְׁנַיִם ”explained based on this principle that since the phrase “shnayim mean not only people who were both spies, but people who were connected through a prior unity of purpose, and this would fit with Calev and Pinchas, both of whom had a history of leadership of the Jewish nation through difficult times. Similarly the Sages offer a reading of the famous story of the two women who came to Shlomo Hamelech for judgement, each claiming that the other’s baby had died and then stolen her living child instead. The Navi (Melachim 1, 3:16) describes the two women as: אָז תָּבֹאנָה, שְׁתַּיִם נָשִׁים זֹנוֹת–אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ; וַתַּעֲמֹדְנָה, לְפָנָיו Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him The Midrash (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:10) explains that these two women were not strangers, but they were relatives, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and their fight concerned the Torah law of yibom (for a woman to marry her dead husband’s brother.) The mother-in-law claimed that her daughter-in-law’s son had died before her husband’s death and she required yibom, while the daughter-in-law insisted her child was alive and she was free to marry whomever, now that her husband had died.
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