Sanhedrin 26

ומיגנזו כולי עלמא כי אתי אמר ליה ממאן נבעי

And everyone would hide. When the head tax collector would arrive, Rabbi Zeira’s father would say to him: From whom shall I request taxes? The city is scarcely populated, and only a small sum of taxes should be imposed on it.

כי ניחא נפשיה אמר להו שקולו תליסר מעי דציירי לי בסדינאי והדרו ליה לפלניא דשקלתינהו מיניה ולא איצטריכו לי

When he was dying, he said to those standing around his deathbed: Take thirteen ma’a that are tied up in my sheet and return them to so-and-so, as I took them from him but I did not need them to pay the tax. Evidently, some tax collectors are God-fearing, and should not be disqualified.

אמר רבי שמעון בתחילה היו קוראין אותן ׳אוספי שביעית׳

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Shimon said: Initially people would call them: Gatherers of the produce of the Sabbatical Year. Once the tax collectors grew abundant they would then call them: Merchants who trade in the produce of the Sabbatical Year.

מאי קאמר אמר רב יהודה הכי קאמר בתחילה היו אומרים אוספי שביעית כשרין סוחרין פסולין

The Gemara asks: What is he saying? What is Rabbi Shimon teaching in this statement? Rav Yehuda says this is what he is saying: Initially the Sages would say that gatherers of the produce of the Sabbatical Year, i.e., those who gather a large quantity of produce of the Sabbatical Year for themselves, are fit to bear witness, but merchants who trade in the produce of the Sabbatical Year are disqualified.

משרבו ממציאי מעות לעניים ואזלי עניים ואספי להו ומייתו חזרו לומר אחד זה ואחד זה פסולין

Once those who would offer money to the poor to gather produce for them grew abundant, and the poor would go and gather the produce for those who hired them and bring it to them, then gathering a large amount of produce of the Sabbatical Year was considered a business. The Sages then said that both this category, gatherers of the produce of the Sabbatical Year, and that category, merchants who trade in the produce of the Sabbatical Year, are disqualified.

קשו בה בני רחבה האי משרבו האנסים משרבו התגרין מיבעי ליה

The children of the Sage Raḥava had a difficulty with this explanation, as accordingly this phrase: Once the tax collectors grew abundant, is inaccurate; the mishna should have stated: Once the merchants grew abundant.

אלא בתחילה היו אומרים אחד זה ואחד זה פסולין משרבו האנסין ומאי נינהו ארנונא כדמכריז רבי ינאי פוקו וזרעו בשביעית משום ארנונא חזרו לומר אוספין כשרין סוחרין פסולין

Rather, Rabbi Shimon’s statement should be explained differently, as follows: Initially the Sages would say that both this category, gatherers of the produce of the Sabbatical Year, and that category, merchants who trade in the produce of the Sabbatical Year, are disqualified. Once the tax collectors grew abundant it was permitted to gather the produce of the Sabbatical Year. And what tax did they collect? Arnona, which was a heavy tax on property collected both during the Sabbatical Year and in other years, placing pressure on those observing the Sabbatical Year. As Rabbi Yannai proclaimed: Go out and sow the fields during the Sabbatical Year due to the arnona that you must pay. Once this happened, the Sages then said: Gatherers of the produce of the Sabbatical Year are fit to bear witness, as they were no longer viewed as transgressors, but merchants who trade in this produce are still disqualified.

רבי חייא בר זרנוקי ורבי שמעון בן יהוצדק הוו קאזלי לעבר שנה בעסיא פגע בהו ריש לקיש איטפיל בהדייהו אמר איזיל איחזי היכי עבדי עובדא

§ The Gemara recounts an incident connected tangentially to the discussion concerning the Sabbatical Year: Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Zarnokei and Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak were going to intercalate the year in Asya, as circumstances did not enable them to perform the intercalation of the year in Eretz Yisrael. Reish Lakish met them and joined with them. He said: I will go see how they do the deed, i.e., how the intercalation is performed practically.

חזייה לההוא גברא דקא כריב אמר להן כהן וחורש אמרו לו יכול לומר אגיסטון אני בתוכו

Reish Lakish saw a certain man plowing a field. He said to the other Sages: Look at this priest who is plowing during the Sabbatical Year. They said to him that he could say in his own defense: I am a hired worker [agiston] in the field, which belongs to a gentile. Therefore, it is permitted.

תו חזייה לההוא גברא דהוה כסח בכרמי אמר להן כהן וזמר אמרו לו יכול לומר לעקל בית הבד אני צריך אמר להם הלב יודע אם לעקל אם לעקלקלות

Reish Lakish further saw a certain man pruning vines in the vineyards. He said to the other Sages: Look at this priest who is pruning vines during the Sabbatical Year. They said to him that he could say: I need the branches to make a bale [ekel ] for my olive press, i.e., a basket to hold olives for pressing. Since he is not pruning the vines for agricultural purposes but to use the branches, it is permitted for him to do so in the Sabbatical Year. Reish Lakish said to them, in a play on words: The heart knows whether he is doing so for a bale [ekel ], or whether he is saying this as deceit [la’akalkalot].

הי אמר להו ברישא אילימא הא קמייתא אמר להו ברישא הא נמי לימרו אגיסטון אני בתוכו אלא הא אמר ליה ברישא והדר אמר להו הך

The Gemara asks: Which did he say to them first? Which incident occurred first? If we say that first he said to them that first exclamation, that a priest was plowing the field, let them say to him in this latter incident too, in which someone was pruning vines, that he could claim in his defense: I am a hired worker in the field. This would have been a better justification than claiming he needed the branches. Rather, apparently first he said to them this exclamation, that a priest was pruning vines, and only then he said to them that a priest was plowing the field.

מאי שנא כהן משום דחשידי אשביעית

The Gemara asks: What is different about a priest? Why did Reish Lakish assume the man was a priest? The Gemara answers: It is because priests are suspected of desecrating the Sabbatical Year.

דתנן סאה תרומה שנפלה למאה סאין של שביעית תעלה פחות מיכן ירקבו

As we learned in a baraita: A se’a of teruma, the portion of the produce designated for the priest, that fell into a hundred se’a of Sabbatical Year produce and was indistinguishable, is nullified, i.e., it no longer has the status of teruma, and can be eaten until the time that Sabbatical Year produce must be removed from one’s possession. If it fell into a lesser quantity of Sabbatical Year produce, the entire mixture must be left to rot, as it is prohibited for non-priests to partake of teruma.

והוינן בה אמאי ירקבו ימכרנו לכהן בדמי תרומה חוץ מדמי אותה סאה

And we discussed it: Why must the produce rot? Let its owner sell it to a priest in accordance with its value as teruma, which is less expensive than regular produce because it can be eaten only by priests, and except for the value of that se’a of teruma that fell in, which the owner is required to give to a priest for free. The priest may then partake of the produce, treating the entire mixture as though it has the sanctity of teruma, and both the priest and the owner will benefit.

ואמר רב חייא משמיה דעולא זאת אומרת נחשדו כהנים אשביעית

And Rav Ḥiyya said in the name of Ulla: That is to say, i.e., one can infer from the fact that one is not permitted to sell the mixture to a priest, that priests are suspected of desecrating the Sabbatical Year by partaking of its produce after the time it must be removed from one’s possession. They did so because they considered it theirs, the same as teruma, as both mitzvot pertain to the produce of Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, produce of the Sabbatical Year should not be given or sold to priests. Similarly, Reish Lakish assumed that those who desecrated the Sabbatical Year were priests.

אמרו טרודא הוא דין כי מטו להתם סליקו לאיגרא שלפוה לדרגא מתותיה

After Reish Lakish continually bothered them with his comments, Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Zarnokei and Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak said: This one is a nuisance. In order to rid themselves of him, when they reached the location where they intended to intercalate the year, they went up to the roof and took the ladder out from under them so that he would stay below and would not be able to join them.

אתא לקמיה דרבי יוחנן אמר ליה בני אדם החשודין על השביעית כשרין לעבר שנה

Sometime later, Reish Lakish came before Rabbi Yoḥanan. Reish Lakish said to him: Are people who are suspected of desecrating the Sabbatical Year fit to intercalate the year? He believed that the two Sages who were sent to intercalate the year treated the sanctity of the Sabbatical Year with disrespect.

הדר אמר לא קשיא לי מידי דהוה אשלשה רועי בקר ורבנן אחושבנייהו סמוך

Reish Lakish then said in response to his own question: This is not difficult for me; just as the Sages once intercalated the year in accordance with the assessment of three cattle herders (see 18b), which was permitted, as the Sages depended not on the assessment of the cattle herders but on their own calculation, perhaps here too the Sages depended on their own calculations and not on the decision of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Zarnokei and Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak.

והדר אמר לא דמי התם הדור אימנו רבנן ועברוה לההוא שתא הכא קשר רשעים הוא וקשר רשעים אינו מן המנין אמר רבי יוחנן דא עקא

Reish Lakish changed his mind and then said: It is not similar. There, in the case of the cattle herders, afterward the Sages were counted, i.e., they made a decision, and intercalated that year themselves. Here, by contrast, it is a conspiracy of wicked people, as the Sages who intercalated the year are disqualified from doing so; and a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: This problem you raise is troublesome.

כי אתו לקמיה דרבי יוחנן אמרו ליה קרי לן רועי בקר ולא אמר ליה מר ולא מידי אמר להו ואי קרי לכו רועי צאן מאי אמינא ליה

When Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Zarnokei and Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak subsequently came before Rabbi Yoḥanan, after hearing about his discussion with Reish Lakish, they said to him bitterly: Reish Lakish referred to us as cattle herders, and the Master said nothing to him in response? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to them dismissively: And even if he had referred to you as shepherds, who are disqualified from bearing witness in addition to being disqualified from serving as judges, what should I have said to him? He is correct.

מאי קשר רשעים שבנא הוה דריש בתליסר רבוותא חזקיה הוה דריש בחד סר רבוותא

§ The Gemara asks: What is the source of the halakha that a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted as part of a group? The Gemara answers: Shebna, a steward and a minister in King Hezekiah’s court, was a prominent and influential figure. He would teach Torah to an audience of 130,000 followers, whereas King Hezekiah would teach Torah to an audience of merely 110,000 followers.

כי אתא סנחריב וצר עלה דירושלים כתב שבנא פתקא שדא בגירא שבנא וסיעתו השלימו חזקיה וסיעתו לא השלימו שנאמר כי הנה הרשעים ידרכון קשת כוננו חצם על יתר

When Sennacherib came and besieged Jerusalem, Shebna wrote a note and shot it over the wall with an arrow. It read: Shebna and his camp have appeased Sennacherib and are ready to surrender; Hezekiah and his camp have not appeased Sennacherib. As it is stated in allusion to this incident: “For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have made ready their arrow upon the string” (Psalms 11:2).

הוה קא מסתפי חזקיה אמר דילמא חס ושלום נטיה דעתיה דקודשא בריך הוא בתר רובא כיון דרובא מימסרי אינהו נמי מימסרי בא נביא ואמר לו לא תאמרון קשר לכל אשר יאמר העם הזה קשר כלומר קשר רשעים הוא וקשר רשעים אינו מן המנין

Hezekiah was afraid. He said: Perhaps, God forbid, the opinion of the Holy One, Blessed be He, will follow the majority; and since the majority have submitted to the Assyrians, even those who have not submitted will also be submitted into their hands. The prophet Isaiah then came and said to him: “Say not: A conspiracy, concerning all of which this people say: A conspiracy” (Isaiah 8:12). Meaning, it is a conspiracy of wicked people, and a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted. Therefore, although they are many, they are not considered the majority.

הלך לחצב לו קבר בקברי בית דוד בא נביא ואמר לו מה לך פה ומי לך פה כי חצבת לך פה קבר הנה ה׳ מטלטלך טלטלה גבר

Shebna went to carve out a grave for himself among the graves of the house of David, as he thought that the kingship would be given to him. The prophet Isaiah then came and said to him: “What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have carved out a grave for yourself here? You, who have carved yourself out a grave on high, and hollowed a habitation for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord will make you wander like the wandering of a man; and he will wind you round and round” (Isaiah 22:16–17).

אמר רב טלטולא דגברא קשי מדאיתתא

The Gemara mentions tangentially: Rav says that the wandering of a man is more difficult than that of a woman. He derives it from the expression “like the wandering of a man.”

ועטך עטה אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא מלמד שפרחה בו צרעת כתיב הכא ועטך עטה וכתיב התם ועל שפם יעטה

With regard to the phrase: “And he will wind you round and round,” Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: This teaches that Shebna developed leprosy; it is written here: “And he will wind you round and round [ve’otkha ato],” and it is written there, in the Torah, with regard to a leper: “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip [ya’te]” (Leviticus 13:45). The Hebrew word for upper lip is from the same root as the verb in the verse cited from Isaiah.

צנוף יצנפך צנפה כדור אל ארץ רחבת ידים וגו׳ תנא הוא ביקש קלון בית אדניו לפיכך נהפך כבודו לקלון כי הוה נפיק איהו אתא גבריאל אחדיה לדשא באפי משרייתיה

The Gemara continues to interpret the prophecy about Shebna: “He will violently roll and toss you like a ball into a large country; there you shall die, and there shall be the chariots of your glory, you shame of your lord’s house” (Isaiah 22:18). A baraita taught: He, Shebna, desired shame for his master’s house; therefore his glory turned to shame. This is what happened to him: When he was going out of the gate of Jerusalem to submit to the Assyrians, the angel Gabriel came and held the gate in front of his camp so they could not follow him. Consequently, he went out by himself.

אמרו ליה משירייתך היכא אמר הדרו בי אמרו ליה אם כן אחוכי קא מחייכת בן נקבוהו בעקביו ותלאוהו בזנבי סוסיהם והיו מגררין אותו על הקוצים ועל הברקנין

The Assyrians said to him: Where is your camp? Shebna said: They backed out on me. They said to him: If so, you are mocking us; you led us to believe that behind you stands a large camp of supporters. They punched holes in his heels and hung him by the tails of their horses, and dragged him on the thorns and on the bristles.

אמר רבי אלעזר שבנא בעל הנאה היה כתיב הכא לך בא אל הסכן הזה וכתיב התם ותהי לו סכנת

Rabbi Elazar says: Shebna was a hedonist. It is written here: “Go, get yourself to this steward [hasokhen], to Shebna, who is over the house” (Isaiah 22:15), and it is written there with regard to Abishag the Shunammite: “And let her be a companion [sokhenet] to him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat” (I Kings 1:2).

ואומר כי השתות יהרסון צדיק מה פעל רב יהודה ורב עינא חד אמר אילו חזקיה וסיעתו נהרסים צדיק מה פעל וחד אמר אילו בית המקדש יהרס צדיק מה פעל ועולא אמר אילו מחשבותיו של אותו רשע אינן נהרסות צדיק מה פעל

And following the aforementioned verse: “For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have made ready their arrow upon the string,” the next verse states: “When the foundations are destroyed, what has the Righteous One done?” (Psalms 11:3). Rav Yehuda and Rav Eina interpret this verse. One says: If Hezekiah and his camp are destroyed, what has the Righteous One done? And one says: If the Temple should be destroyed, what has the Righteous One done? And Ulla says: If the intentions of that wicked person, Sennacherib, are not destroyed, what has the Righteous One done?

בשלמא למאן דאמר אילו מחשבותיו של אותו רשע היינו דכתיב כי השתות יהרסון

The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who says that the verse means: If the intentions of that wicked person are not destroyed, what has the Righteous One done, this is the reason that it is written: “When the foundations [hashatot] are destroyed,” i.e., the intentions of Sennacherib are destroyed, as intentions are called shatot.

ולמאן דאמר בית המקדש נמי דתנן אבן היתה שם מימות נביאים הראשונים ושתייה היתה נקראת

And according to the one who says it is referring to the Temple, the word hashatot is also clear, as we learned in a mishna (Yoma 53b): There was a stone in the Holy of Holies from the days of the early prophets, David and Samuel, who laid the groundwork for construction of the Temple, and this stone was called the Foundation [shetiyya] Stone.

אלא למאן דאמר חזקיה וסיעתו היכא אשכחן צדיקי דאיקרו שתות

But according to the one who says that the reference is to Hezekiah and his camp, where do we find that righteous people are referred to as shatot?

דכתיב כי לה׳ מצקי ארץ וישת עליהם תבל ואיבעית אימא מהכא הפלא עצה הגדיל תושיה

The Gemara answers: As it is written: “He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dung hill, to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set [vayyashet] the world upon them” (I Samuel 2:8). Since the righteous are considered the foundations of the world, this verse is interpreted in reference to them. And if you wish, say instead that it is derived from here: “Wonderful is His counsel, and great His wisdom [tushiyya]” (Isaiah 28:29). Accordingly, the wise, righteous people are called shatot.

אמר רבי חנן למה נקרא שמה תושיה מפני שהיא מתשת כחו של אדם דבר אחר תושיה שניתנה בחשאי מפני השטן דבר אחר תושיה דברים של תוהו שהעולם משותת עליהם

With regard to the latter verse, Rabbi Ḥanan says: Why is the Torah called tushiyya? Because it weakens [matteshet] the strength of a person who engages in its study. Alternatively, tushiyya can be interpreted as an abbreviation: That it was given in secret [shenittena beḥashai]. This was done because of the Satan, lest he claim that the Jewish people are not worthy of it. Alternatively, tushiyya can be interpreted as an abbreviation for amorphous [tohu] matters that seem foreign and strange, but nevertheless the world is founded [meshotat] on them.

אמר עולא מחשבה מועלת אפילו לדברי תורה שנאמר מפר מחשבות ערומים ולא תעשינה ידיהם תושיה

Ulla says: Thought, i.e., concern, is effective [mo’elet] in disturbing even the study of statements of Torah, as it is stated: “He frustrates the thoughts of the crafty, so that their hands can perform nothing [velo…tushiyya]” (Job 5:12), and tushiyya is a reference to Torah.

אמר רבה אם עסוקין לשמה אינה מועלת שנאמר רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה׳ היא תקום עצה שיש בה דבר ה׳ היא תקום לעולם

Rabba says: If people engage in Torah study for its own sake, concern is not effective; as it is stated: “There are many devices in a man’s heart; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Rabba interprets this to mean that a counsel that has in it the statement of the Lord shall rise forever and cannot be disturbed.

אמר רבי יהודה אימתי אמר רבי אבהו אמר רבי אלעזר הלכה כרבי יהודה

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Yehuda says: When are all these people, e.g., gamblers and those who lend with interest, disqualified from bearing witness? It is when they have no occupation other than this one. Rabbi Abbahu says that Rabbi Elazar says: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda.

ואמר רבי אבהו אמר רבי אלעזר כולן צריכין הכרזה בבית דין

And Rabbi Abbahu says that Rabbi Elazar says: All of these require a proclamation in the court. In other words, one is disqualified only after it is proclaimed in court that he was found guilty of this behavior.

רועה פליגי בה רב אחא ורבינא חד אמר בעי הכרזה וחד אמר לא בעי הכרזה

With regard to a shepherd, who is also disqualified from bearing witness, Rav Aḥa and Ravina disagree. One says that he requires a proclamation that he is disqualified due to his being a shepherd, and one says that he does not require a proclamation and is disqualified automatically.

בשלמא למאן דאמר לא בעי הכרזה היינו דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב סתם רועה פסול אלא למאן דאמר בעי הכרזה מאי סתם רועה פסול

The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who says that he does not require a proclamation, this is what Rav Yehuda means when he says that Rav says that an ordinary shepherd is disqualified, i.e., he does not require a specific proclamation. But according to the one who says that a shepherd requires a proclamation, what is meant by the statement that an ordinary shepherd is disqualified?

דבסתמא מכרזינן עליה

The Gemara answers: It means that in an ordinary case, the court proclaims about him that he is disqualified for having engaged in shepherding. If the court discovers that he regularly engages in this trade, it proclaims immediately that he is disqualified, and the court does not need to prove that he shepherds his flock in the fields of others.

ההיא מתנה דהוו חתימי עלה תרין גזלנין סבר רב פפא בר שמואל לאכשורה דהא לא אכרזינן עלייהו

The Gemara recounts: With regard to a certain deed of gift on which the names of two robbers were signed, Rav Pappa bar Shmuel thought to deem it valid despite the identity of the witnesses, as the court did not proclaim about them that they were disqualified.

אמר ליה רבא נהי דבעינן הכרזה בגזלן דרבנן בגזלן דאורייתא מי בעינן הכרזה

Rava said to him: Although we require a proclamation in order to disqualify a robber from bearing witness, this is only with regard to a robber who is guilty of stealing by rabbinic law; with regard to a robber who is guilty of stealing by Torah law, do we require a proclamation? He is disqualified automatically.

סימן דבר ועריות גנב

§ The Gemara states a mnemonic for the following statements with regard to disqualification from testifying: Something; and forbidden sexual relations; and a thief.

אמר רב נחמן אוכלי דבר אחר פסולין לעדות

Rav Naḥman says: Those who eat something else, a euphemism for pork, are disqualified from bearing witness. This is referring to those who accept charity from gentiles, thereby causing a desecration of God’s name. They are tantamount to wicked people guilty of monetary transgressions, as they are willing to desecrate God’s name for monetary gain.

הני מילי בפרהסיא אבל בצינעה לא ובפרהסיא נמי לא אמרן אלא דאפשר ליה לאיתזוני בצינעה וקא מבזי נפשיה בפרהסיא אבל לא אפשר ליה חיותיה הוא

The Gemara comments: This statement applies with regard to taking charity from gentiles in public [befarhesya], but if one takes it in private he is not disqualified. And even if he takes it in public, we said that he is disqualified only in a case where he can sustain himself by accepting charity from gentiles in private and despite this he disgraces himself by taking it in public. But if he cannot support himself in any other manner, he is not disqualified, as it is his livelihood.

אמר רב נחמן החשוד על העריות כשר לעדות אמר רב ששת עני מרי ארבעין בכתפיה וכשר

Rav Naḥman says: One who due to a rumor is suspected of engaging in forbidden sexual relations is fit to bear witness. Rav Sheshet said to him: Answer me, my Master: The halakha is that one who is rumored to have engaged in forbidden sexual intercourse receives forty lashes on his shoulders, and yet you say he is fit to bear witness?

אמר רבא ומודה רב נחמן לענין עדות אשה שהוא פסול אמר רבינא ואיתימא רב פפא לא אמרן אלא לאפוקה אבל לעיולה לית לן בה

Rava said: And Rav Naḥman concedes that he is disqualified with regard to testimony about the status of a married woman, as he is clearly under suspicion with regard to this matter. Ravina says, and some say Rav Pappa says: We said he is disqualified only with regard to testimony that removes her status as a married woman, e.g., testimony that her husband died, as he is suspected of wanting her for himself. But with regard to testimony that establishes her in that status, we have no problem with it.

פשיטא מהו דתימא הא עדיפא ליה דכתיב מים גנובים ימתקו וגו׳ קא משמע לן דכמה דקיימא הכי שכיחא ליה

The Gemara asks: Isn’t that obvious? Why should he be suspected of lying in order to render a woman married? The Gemara answers: Lest you say that if he wants her for himself, this situation, i.e., her being married to another, is preferable to him; as it is written: “Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17), i.e., the forbidden is more pleasant than the permitted, Rav Pappa teaches us that this is not the case, as the way the woman is now, being unmarried, she is more available to him. He therefore is not motivated to testify falsely that she is married.

ואמר רב נחמן גנב ניסן וגנב תשרי לא שמיה גנב

And Rav Naḥman says: A thief of Nisan and a thief of Tishrei, i.e., one who steals during the harvest seasons, is not called a thief and is therefore not disqualified from bearing witness.

הני מילי באריסא ודבר מועט ובדבר שנגמרה מלאכתו

The Gemara explains: This statement applies specifically with regard to a tenant farmer, and it is a situation where he took a small amount, and in a case where it was an item whose work was completed, i.e., that needed no further processing. Since the produce was sufficiently processed, the tenant may assume that he deserves additional pay for any further labor and justify taking a small amount of the produce for his effort. Consequently, his theft is not willful.

איכריה דרב זביד חד גנב קבא דשערי ופסליה וחד גנב קיבורא דאהיני ופסליה

The Gemara recounts: An incident occurred with the tenant farmers of Rav Zevid. One stole a kav of barley, and Rav Zevid disqualified him from bearing witness, and one stole a cluster of dates, and he disqualified him. The reason for their disqualification is that the quantity of produce they stole is not considered a small amount.

הנהו קבוראי דקבור נפשא ביום טוב ראשון של עצרת שמתינהו רב פפא ופסלינהו לעדות ואכשרינהו רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע

The Gemara relates: There were these gravediggers, who buried a person on the first day of the festival of Shavuot, desecrating the Festival. Rav Pappa excommunicated them and then disqualified them from bearing witness, and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, deemed them fit to bear witness.

אמר ליה רב פפא והא רשעים נינהו סברי מצוה קא עבדי

Rav Pappa said to Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua: But aren’t they wicked people, as they violated a Torah prohibition? Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, answered him: They assumed they were doing a mitzva, as they were burying the dead.

והא קא משמתינא להו סברי כפרה קא עבדי לן רבנן

Rav Pappa asked: But didn’t I excommunicate them for this? Nevertheless, they continued to bury people on the Festival. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, answered: They assumed: We were not excommunicated for doing something wrong. Rather, since the mitzva of burying the dead involved desecrating the Festival, the Sages are achieving atonement for us, although our behavior was appropriate.

איתמר

§ A conspiring witness is one who testified that a certain incident occurred at a particular time and place, and then two other witnesses testify that he was elsewhere at that time. The Gemara discusses the disqualification of a conspiring witness from providing testimony in other cases. It was stated