6. The Great Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members, and the small one of twenty-three. And whence know we that the great one contained seventy-one? as is said, “Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel”,(374) and Moses over them. There are seventy-one. R. Judah said “seventy.” And whence know we that the small one consisted of twenty-three? as is said, “Then the congregation shall judge”;(375) “and the congregation shall deliver.” A congregation to judge, and a congregation to deliver, there is twenty. And whence know we that a congregation required ten? as is said, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation?”(376) Joshua and Caleb were excepted. “And whence know we to produce the other three?” From the meaning, as is said, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.”(377) I am hearing that “I shall be with them for good.” If so, why is it said, “to decline after many to wrest judgment”?(378) “Because thy inclinations to good do not equal thy inclinations to evil. Thy inclinations to good are by the report of one. Thy inclinations to evil are by the report of two. And a tribunal must not be balanced. Another must be added. There are twenty-three.” “And how populous must be the city suited for judges?” “One hundred and twenty.” R. Nehemiah said “230 to represent twenty-three overseers of tens.” Chapter II 1. The high-priest may judge, and be judged.(379) He may bear witness, and witness may be borne against him. He may have his shoe loosed, and the shoe may be loosed for his wife.(380) His brother may take his wife, but he must not take his brother’s wife, because he is prevented from marrying a widow. If there happened a death in his family, he must not go immediately behind the bier. “But when the (mourners) are concealed (in a street), then he is discovered (to the public). They are discovered to the public, and he is concealed in a street. And he may go with them to the entrance gate of the city.” The words of R. Meier. R. Judah said, “he must not depart from the sanctuary”; as is said, “neither shall he go out of the sanctuary.”(381) And when he comforts others, the fashion of all the people is to pass one after the other, and the deputy priest puts him in the middle between himself and the people. But when he is comforted by others, all the people say to him, “we are thy atonement.” And he says to them, “you shall be blessed from heaven.” And at the first meal(382) after a funeral, all the people recline on the ground, and he sits on a stool.