“Once, the Boethusians tried to mislead the Sages”: The Story of a Double Agent Giving Fantastical Testimony of the New Moon (Rosh Hashanah 22b)
The Passage
Pt1
The passage details a shift in the protocol for accepting testimony about the New Moon's appearance due to corruption by the Boethusians.1
Initially, testimony was accepted from any individual until the Boethusians manipulated the process to mislead the Sages (חכמים) about the new moon's timing.
They bribed two individuals, one from their group and one “from Us” (משלנו - meaning, those aligned with Rabbis), to falsely claim they had seen the new moon on a specific day. The witness from the Boethusians provided his false testimony and then left.
בראשונה היו מקבלין עדות החדש מכל אדם וכו׳.
תנו רבנן:
מה קלקול קלקלו הבייתוסין?
פעם אחת, בקשו בייתוסין להטעות את חכמים,
שכרו שני בני אדם בארבע מאות זוז,
אחד משלנו, ואחד משלהם.
שלהם — העיד עדותו, ויצא.
The mishna taught: Initially, they would accept testimony to determine the start of the month from any person, and this continued until the Boethusians began to corrupt the process.
The Sages taught a baraita that describes the decisive incident:
What was the manner of the corruption in which the Boethusians engaged?
Once, the Boethusians tried to mislead the Sages with regard to the day of the new moon.
They hired two people for four hundred dinars to testify falsely that they had seen the new moon on the thirtieth day of the month.
One of them was from our own, i.e., a member of the Pharisees and the Sages of Israel, and the other was one of theirs.
When they went in to testify, their witness submitted his testimony that he had seen the new moon, and then he left.
Pt2
When the second witness, “[One] Of Us”, came forward to testify about the new moon, he offered a fantastical description of seeing the moon. He said that he was going up the biblical Ma’ale Adumim (מעלה אדומים), when the moon appeared between two rocks, with physical features resembling various animals (calf, kid, and deer).
He then admitted to being bribed with 200 dinars to give this false testimony, explaining that he gave the fantastical story to ensure that his testimony would not be trusted.
שלנו, אמרו לו: אמור כיצד ראית את הלבנה!
אמר להם: עולה הייתי במעלה אדומים,
וראיתיו שהוא
רבוץ בין שני סלעים,
ראשו דומה לעגל,
אזניו דומין לגדי,
קרניו דומות לצבי,
וזנבו מונחת לו בין ירכותיו,
והצצתי בו
ונרתעתי,
ונפלתי לאחורי.
ואם אין אתם מאמינים לי — הרי מאתים זוז צרורין לי בסדיני.
When our witness came to testify, they said to him, in the customary manner: Say how you saw the moon.
He said to them: I was ascending in Ma’ale Adumim
and I saw that the new moon was
crouched between two rocks.
Its head was like that of a calf,
its ears were like those of a kid,
its horns were like those of a deer,
and its tail was lying between its thighs.
And I looked at it
and was frightened
and I fell backward.
And if you do not believe me that this is what I saw, there are two hundred dinars wrapped in my cloak that were paid to me to deliver this testimony.
Pt3
He revealed his motive was to expose the corruption attempt by the Boethusians, who had plotted to mislead the Sages.
Recognizing his intention to protect the integrity of the testimony process, the Sages rewarded him by allowing him to keep the bribe money, viewing it as a gift since it was obtained in an effort to safeguard the truth.
They also decided to flog2 the person who hired him for corruption.
Following this incident, the Sages instituted a new rule to accept testimony regarding the new moon only from known and trustworthy witnesses who were recognized by the Great Sanhedrin as qualified.
אמרו לו: מי הזקיקך לכך?
אמר להם: שמעתי, שבקשו בייתוסים להטעות את חכמים,
אמרתי: אלך אני
ואודיע להם,
שמא יבואו בני אדם שאינם מהוגנין
ויטעו את חכמים.
אמרו לו: מאתים זוז — נתונין לך במתנה,
והשוכרך — ימתח על העמוד.
באותה שעה,
התקינו, שלא יהו מקבלין, אלא מן המכירין.
Realizing that the testimony of the first witness was also false, the Sages said to him: Who persuaded you to act in this manner?
He said to them: I heard that the Boethusians were seeking to mislead the Sages,
and I said to myself: I will go and hire myself out to give false testimony,
and I will inform the Sages of the truth,
lest unworthy people come and mislead the Sages.
The Sages said to him: The two hundred dinars that you received from the Boethusians are given to you as a gift. Although you did not carry out your mission, the court is authorized to declare the money ownerless and award it to you.
And the one who hired you shall be stretched out on the post for flogging.
At that time the Sages instituted that they would accept testimony about the new moon only from those men who were familiar to the Great Sanhedrin as qualified witnesses.
בייתוסין.
Wikipedia: “ a Jewish sect closely related to, if not a development of, the Sadducees”.
The Sadducees were opponents of the Pharisees in the late Second Temple period.
ימתח על העמוד - literally: “will be stretched on the post”.