## Sifrei Devarim Paragraph 153

###### Sifrei Devarim 153:1
[Sifrei Devarim 153:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/153:1)

(דברים יז ט) **וּבָאתָ** – לְרַבּוֹת בֵּית דִּין שֶׁבְּיַבְנֶה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**Pisqa’ 153**⁶⁶
1. “And when you *reach”*(Dt. 17:9).
Including the court at Yavneh⁶⁷
[as the successor of the Sanhedrin⁶⁸ 154.1.].

footnotes:
⁶⁶ H:190; JN2:19-20.
⁶⁷ Yavneh, a coastal town on the Mediterranean, was a major center of rabbinic learning in the latter decades of the first century and the first third of the second century CE.
⁶⁸ The Yavnean court was not equal in all respects to the ancient Sanhedrin that presided over the Chamber of Carved Stone. For example, it could not administer capital punishment (M. San.11:4). Cf. Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 153:2
[Sifrei Devarim 153:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/153:2)

**אֶל הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם**, מִצְוָה בְּבֵית דִּין שֶׁיִּהְיוּ בוֹ כֹּהֲנִים וּלְוִיִּם.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“The *levitical Priest*” (Dt. 17:9)—
it is a requirement that the court
include Priests and Levites.


###### Sifrei Devarim 153:3
[Sifrei Devarim 153:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/153:3)

יָכוֹל מִצְוָה, וְאִם אֵין בּוֹ יְהֵא פָסוּל? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **וְאֶל הַשֹּׁפֵט** – אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ כֹּהֲנִים וּלְוִיִּם כָּשֵׁר.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
Is it possible to say that
in the absence of a Priest or Levite,
the court shall be disqualified?
The Teaching states:
“Or to the *justice*” (Dt. 17:9)—
even though there is no Priest or Levite,
the court is an appropriate legal venue.


###### Sifrei Devarim 153:4
[Sifrei Devarim 153:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/153:4)

**אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם**, אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי הַגְּלִילִי: וְכִי עָלָת עַל דַּעְתְּךָ שֶׁתֵּלֵךְ אֵצֶל שׁוֹפֵט שֶׁאֵינוֹ בְּיָמֶיךָ? אֶלָּא שׁוֹפֵט שֶׁהוּא כָּשֵׁר וּמֻחְזָק בְּאוֹתָם הַיָּמִים. הָיָה קָרוֹב וְנִתְרַחֵק – כָּשֵׁר, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר (קהלת ז י): ״אַל תֹּאמַר מֶה הָיָה שֶׁהַיָּמִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים הָיוּ טוֹבִים מֵאֵלֶּה כִּי לֹא מֵחָכְמָה שָׁאַלְתָּ עַל זֶה״.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
2. “Who shall preside *in those days*” (Dt. 17:9).
**Said R. Yose the Galilean:**
**Now, can you imagine that**
**you would go to a justice**
**who is *not* alive *in those days*?**
**The point is, select a justice**
**who is eminently qualified**
***among his contemporaries*.**
**If he had been kin [to the litigants],**
**but then severed the connection [e.g., through death],**
**he is qualified [to sit in judgment of them].**
**And in this connection,**
**He states**:
**“Do not wonder why the old days were better than today,**
**for such a question does not proceed from wisdom” (Ecc. 7:10).**⁶⁹ 190.3.

footnotes:
⁶⁹ Cf. T. RH. 2:3 and Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 153:5
[Sifrei Devarim 153:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/153:5)

**וְדָרַשְׁתָּ וְהִגִּידוּ לְךָ אֵת דְּבַר הַמִּשְׁפָּט** – אֵלּוּ דִּקְדּוּקֵי מִשְׁפָּט.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“And you shall inquire, and they shall declare to you
the *word of judgment*” (Dt. 17:9)—
in accord with *every detail* of legal procedure.