Yerushalmi Sotah 9:12 ירושלמי סוטה ט׳:י״ב

MISHNAH: When the Synhedrion was disestablished¹⁸⁹Not really disestablished but when criminal jurisdiction was taken away from Jewish courts, transferred to the Roman administration, and only strictly religious matters were left to the High Court which was generally regarded as Synhedrion., the epithalamium stopped at wedding feasts as it was said¹⁹⁰Is. 24:9.: “They shall not drink wine in song.”

HALAKHAH: Abba bar Rav Jeremiah said: “The Elders are no longer at the gate¹⁹¹Thr. 5:14: “The Elders are no longer at the gate, [therefore not] the young men at their songs.” The same in the Babli, 48a, in the name of Rav Huna ben Rav Joshua, 2 generations after Abba bar Rav Jeremiah.” etc.

Rav Ḥisda said, in earlier times the fear of the court was on them and they did not include lewd language in song. But now when the fear of the court is no longer on them they include lewd language in song¹⁹²Lewd language being a regular feature of the Greek epithalamium..

In earlier times they required payment only from a person alone. But now they require payment from him and his family¹⁹⁵In the Tosephta, 15:7, this is combined with the verse Lev. 20:5, alluded to later. A court punishes only the criminal but God’s justice is against “that man (who sacrifices his children to the Moloch) and his family.” This proves that if the courts can no longer enforce biblical law, the Heavenly Court will enforce it in a much harsher way.. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said in the name of Rav Ḥuna: In earlier times, for every trouble that came over the community they have a joyous occasion to make up for it¹⁹⁶The delivery from trouble was a festive occasion documented in Megillat Ta‘anit, the catalogue of days when fasting was forbidden. But now, in the words of the Tosephta (15:6): Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel says, for every trouble that comes over the community, the court disestablishes another joyous occasion.. But after the Synhedrion was abolished, song disappeared from wedding feasts. After both disappeared, ¹⁹⁷Thr. 5:15.“our heart’s joy stopped, our dance turned into mourning.” But what was the high court good for¹⁹⁸What is the connection between the disestablishment of Jewish criminal jurisdiction and the disappearance of the epithalamium from Jewish weddings? The rest of the paragraph has a close parallel in Tosephta 15:7.? But because it was said¹⁹⁹Lev. 20:4. It is implied that the real reason is the following v. 5. “if the people of the Land consistently turn away their eyes from that man when he is giving of his seed to the Moloch, not to kill him,” in any death they would choose²⁰⁰This gives the high court emergency powers to act as a secret, Vehmic, court in case the criminal is too powerful.. They gave a parable, to what can this be compared? To one who was a criminal in a town. They delivered him to the one wielding reeds, who jailed him, but he turned out to be stronger than the one wielding reeds. They delivered him to the one wielding sticks who hit him, but he turned out to be stronger than the one wielding sticks²⁰¹He might be the Roman lictor since the ruler mentioned is a Roman proconsul.. They delivered him to the wielder of leather straps who whipped him, but he turned out to be stronger than the wielder of leather straps. They delivered him to the ruler who hung him in the kiln²⁰²Greek κάμινος, ἡ, “oven, furnace, kiln.”. So the later troubles cause the earlier ones to be forgotten.