Editing Sanhedrin (section)

== Powers ==
The Talmud tractate [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]] identifies two classes of rabbinical courts called Sanhedrin, a Great Sanhedrin ({{lang|he|בית דין הגדול}}) and a Lesser Sanhedrin ({{lang|he|בית דין הקטן}}). Each city could have its own lesser Sanhedrin of 23 judges, but there could be only one greater Sanhedrin of 71, which among other roles acted as the Supreme Court, taking appeals from cases decided by lesser courts. The uneven numbers of judges were predicated on eliminating the possibility of a tie, and the last to cast his vote was the head of the court.

=== Function and procedures ===
The Sanhedrin as a body claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have. As such, they were the only ones who could try the king, extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem, and were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put. Moreover, the lesser Sanhedrin of 23 judges was the only juridical body in Israel having the statutory and constitutional authority and power to render a verdict of [[capital punishment]] to would-be offenders,<ref>{{Citation |title=The Mishnah |editor-last=Danby|editor-first=H. |editor-link=Herbert Danby |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |place=Oxford |year=1977|page=[https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/383/mode/1up 383] (''Sanhedrin'' 1:4) |isbn=0-19-815402-X |title-link=Mishnah }}</ref> and the greater Sanhedrin of 71 judges was solely authorized to send forth the people to a [[voluntary war|battle waged of free choice]].<ref>{{Citation |title=The Mishnah |editor-last=Danby|editor-first=H. |editor-link=Herbert Danby |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |place=Oxford |year=1977|page=[https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/383/mode/1up 383] (''Sanhedrin'' 1:5) |isbn=0-19-815402-X |title-link=Mishnah }}</ref> 

Before 191 BCE the [[Kohen Gadol|High Priest]] acted as the ''ex officio'' head of the Sanhedrin,<ref name="ArtScroll">Goldwurm, Hersh and Holder, Meir, ''History of the Jewish People'', I "The Second Temple Era" ([[ArtScroll|Mesorah Publications]]: 1982) {{ISBN|0-89906-454-X}}.</ref>  but in 191 BCE, when the Sanhedrin lost confidence in the High Priest, the office of [[Nasi (Hebrew title)|Nasi]] was created. After the time of [[Hillel the Elder]] (late 1st century BCE and early 1st century CE), the Nasi was almost invariably a descendant of Hillel. The second highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin was called the [[Av Beit Din]], or 'Head of the Court' (literally, {{lang|he-latn|Av Beit Din}} means 'father of the house of judgment'), who presided over the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/sanhedrin.htm |title=Sanhedrin |publisher=CUNY |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519083636/http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/sanhedrin.htm |archive-date=2006-05-19 }}</ref> 

During the Second Temple period, the Sanhedrin met in a building known as the [[Hall of Hewn Stones]] ({{lang|he-latn|Lishkat ha-Gazit}}), which has been placed by the Talmud and many scholars as built into the northern wall of the [[Temple Mount]], half inside the sanctuary and half outside, with doors providing access variously to the Temple and to the outside. The name presumably arises to distinguish it from the buildings in the Temple complex used for ritual purposes, which could not be constructed of stones hewn by any [[iron]] implement.

In some cases, it was necessary only for a 23-member panel (functioning as a Lesser Sanhedrin) to convene. In general, the full panel of 71 judges was convened only on matters of national significance (''e.g.'', a declaration of war) or when the 23-member panel failed to reach a conclusive verdict.<ref>Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin [http://images.e-daf.com/DafImg.asp?ID=3613&size=1 2a].</ref>

By the end of the Second Temple period, the Sanhedrin reached its pinnacle of importance, legislating all aspects of Jewish religious and political life within parameters laid down by Biblical and Rabbinic tradition.

=== Summary of Patriarchal powers ===
The following is a summary of the powers and responsibilities of the Patriarchate from the onset of the third century, based on rabbinic sources as understood by L.I. Levine:<ref name="LightstoneReligion2002p.189">{{cite book|author1=Jack N. Lightstone|author2=Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion|title=Mishnah and the social formation of the early Rabbinic Guild: a socio-rhetorical approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s42kv4NGBU4C&pg=PA189|access-date=21 July 2011|year=2002|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-88920-375-4|page=189}}</ref>
#Representative to Imperial authorities;
#Focus of leadership in the Jewish community:
##Receiving daily visits from prominent families;
##Declaration of public fast days;
##Initiating or abrogating the ban (''[[herem (war or property)|herem]]'');
#Appointment of judges to Jewish courts in the Land of Israel;
#Regulation of the calendar;
#Issuing enactments and decrees with respect to the applicability or release from legal requirements, e.g.:
##Use of [[shmita|sabbatical year]] produce and applicability of sabbatical year injunctions;
##Repurchase or redemption of formerly Jewish land from gentile owners;
##Status of Hellenistic cities of the Land of Israel re: purity, tithing, sabbatical year;
##Exemptions from tithing;
##Conditions in divorce documents;
##Use of oil produced by gentiles;
#Dispatching emissaries to diaspora communities;
#Taxation: both the power to tax and the authority to rule/intervene on the disposition of taxes raised for local purposes by local councils.

Up to the middle of the fourth century, the Patriarchate retained the prerogative of determining the [[Hebrew calendar]] and guarded the intricacies of the needed calculations, in an effort to constrain interference by the Babylonian community. Christian persecution obliged [[Hillel II]] to fix the calendar in permanent form in 359 CE.<ref name="Chisholm1911attribution" /><ref name="TausGarber2008">{{cite book|author1=Esther Rogoff Taus|author2=Zev Garber|title=Torah for Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASsHZFokICsC&pg=PA97|access-date=18 July 2011|date= 2008|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-7618-3635-3|page=97}}</ref> This institution symbolized the passing of authority from the Patriarchate to the [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia|Babylonian Talmudic academies]].<ref name="Landman1941">{{cite book|author=Isaac Landman|title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: an authoritative and popular presentation of Jews and Judaism since the earliest times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrttAAAAMAAJ|access-date=18 July 2011|year=1941|publisher=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, inc.|page=399}}</ref>

=== Archaeological findings ===
In 2004, excavations in Tiberias conducted by the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] uncovered a structure dating to the 3rd century CE that may have been the seat of the Sanhedrin when it convened in that city. At the time it was called {{lang|he-latn|Beit Hava'ad}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/researchers-say-tiberias-basilica-may-have-housed-sanhedrin-1.117483|title=Researchers say Tiberias basilica may have housed Sanhedrin|date=22 March 2004|work=Haaretz}}</ref>