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SANHEDRIN 25
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SUMMARY

1. When Rebbi Yehudah says 'Eimasai' he is explaining the position of the Rabanan.
 
2. A gambler is Pasul to be a witness or a judge even if he has a regular job as well.
 
3. Rebbi Tarfon maintains that a person becomes a Nazir only if he accepts Nezirus explicitly.
 
4. Rava maintains that a person who borrows money with interest is Pasul to be a witness.
 
5. A person cannot be considered a Rasha as a result of his own testimony.
 
6. A person who is suspected of selling Tereifos is not trusted until he does Teshuvah.
 
7. A gambler is Pasul to be a witness until he does complete Teshuvah.
 
8. Gazlanim and Chamsanim are Pasul to be witnesses.
 
9. Shepherds, as well as tax and customs collectors, are Pasul to be witnesses.
 
10. It is forbidden to raise small animals in Eretz Yisrael.

A BIT MORE

1. Rebbi Yehoshua Ben Levi maintains that when Rebbi Yehudah says 'Bameh' or 'Eimasai,' his intention is to explain the opinion of the Rabanan, not to disagree with them. Rebbi Yochanan maintains that when Rebbi Yehudah says 'Bameh' he is disagreeing with the Rabanan, but when he says 'Eimasai' he means to explain the Rabanan's position. Rami Bar Chama maintains that even when Rebbi Yehudah says 'Eimasai' he is disagreeing with the Rabanan.
 
2. In the Mishnah, Rebbi Yehudah states that a gambler who has a regular job can be a Kosher witness or judge. According to this view, the disqualification of a gambler in general must be due to the fact that his occupation is not beneficial to the world. If the disqualification had been due to Gezel, the fact that he also has a regular job would not have been sufficient to render him a valid witness. The Beraisa, however, states that even a gambler who has a regular job is Pasul because he is considered a Gazlan. According to the Beraisa, a gambler's winnings are acquired due to an Asmachta, which is not Koneh. Therefore, the gambler is a Gazlan.
 
3. Rebbi Tarfon maintains that an Asmachta is not Koneh. Therefore, if a person declares that he accepts Nezirus on himself on the condition that a certain individual is a Nazir, the Nezirus does not take effect even if that individual is a Nazir. Since his vow of Nezirus was conditional and at the time that he took the vow he did not know whether the condition was true, it is assumed that he never truly intended to become a Nazir.
 
4. A person who lends or borrows money with interest transgresses a Lo Sa'aseh. Since such a person is prepared to violate the laws of the Torah because of his desire for money, he cannot be trusted to testify in Beis Din.
 
5. The Gemara relates that two witnesses once came forward to testify that a certain individual was Pasul to serve as a witness. One of the witnesses testified that he had seen the person lend money with interest, and the other witness testified that he had personally borrowed money from him with interest. Rava accepted their testimony even though the second witness's testimony also incriminated himself, since it is forbidden to borrow money with interest, and that very admission should have disqualified him from testifying. The reason for this is that Beis Din does not consider a person a Rasha on the basis of his own testimony; thus, Beis Din was able to disqualify the subject of his testimony since the witness himself was not invalidated by his own admission.
 
6. A person who sells Tereifos is no longer trusted to sell meat until he demonstrates that he no longer acts out of a desire for money. He can do this by returning an expensive Aveidah in a place where he is not recognized, or by discarding a Tereifah of his own that could have been valuable.
 
7. A gambler is not accepted as a witness until he breaks his chips and terminates his gambling activities completely. In order to repent properly, he must stop gambling even when money is not being wagered. A person who lends money with interest is not accepted as a witness until he rips up his Shtaros and stops lending money with interest even to a Nochri. A person who engages in commerce with fruit of Shvi'is is not accepted as a witness until he demonstrates his repentance by not engaging in commerce with the fruit of the following Shvi'is year. Rav Nechemyah adds that he must also donate the fruit of that Shvi'is to the poor in order to demonstrate his repentance.
 
8. Even a person who steals from a Cheresh (deaf-mute), a Shoteh or a Katan is Pasul to be a witness, even though stealing from them is only Gezel d'Rabanan. A Chamsan (a person who forces others to sell their belongings to him) is also Pasul to be a witness even though he pays for the items that he takes. The Rabanan disqualified a Chamsan from testifying because he takes items from their owners by force.
 
9. A shepherd is Pasul to be a witness regardless of whether he cares for large animals or small animals. Any shepherd is automatically Pasul to be a witness even if he has not been seen grazing his animals in other people's fields, because it is assumed that he does so. A tax or customs collector, on the other hand, becomes Pasul only when it is known that he collects more money than he is authorized to take. Beis Din does not assume that he is Pasul unless there is evidence to that effect.
 
10 A person who raises small animals in Eretz Yisrael is Pasul to be a witness even if he does not bring the animals to graze in other people's fields. The mere fact that a person raises small animals in Eretz Yisrael is enough to make him Pasul because the animals easily slip away and wander into other people's fields, where they eat produce belonging to the owners of the fields. However, a person who raises large animals in Eretz Yisrael can be a Kosher witness as long as he does not bring them out to the fields to graze. This is because it is possible to prevent large animals from slipping away and grazing in other people's fields, so the mere act of raising them in one's own home is permissible.

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