Mishnah 4 in the fourth chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin continues to discuss the procedures and arrangements made for a minor Sanhedrin - a court of twenty-three judges that adjudicates capital cases. For the sake of clarity, let us recall: The only case that requires twenty-three judges is a capital case, in which the defendant may face execution, and even when an animal is on trial for its life.
Three Rows of Torah Scholars:
The Mishnah teaches that in addition to the twenty-three judges, reserves are required, essentially serving as substitutes, who are the disciples of the judges. Seemingly, they do not have ordination, and they do not function as judges, but rather they sit there to learn and to be promoted when necessary. The language of the Mishnah: "Shalosh shuros shel talmidei chachamim yoshvin lifneihem" - three rows of Torah scholars sit opposite the judges and in front of them. According to most opinions, they are also arranged in a kind of semicircle facing the opposite direction, while according to some opinions they sit in a straight row.
How Many Disciples Sit in the Rows?
Their primary role is to serve as substitutes. The simple example, which we have already seen, is a judge who says "I do not know" - he does not know how to rule, and therefore two more must be added, as the addition is always done two at a time. If out of the twenty-three, twenty-two say guilty or innocent, and one of them says "I do not know" - we do not have twenty-three judges before us, and we must add two. And if those who say "I do not know" increase until there are not enough to decide the case, we add another two and another two, up to seventy-one. This is the maximum, since seventy-one is the number of the Great Sanhedrin.
From this it emerges that the required number of substitutes is the complement from twenty-three up to seventy-one - forty-eight. However, for logistical reasons they did not want to seat them in rows that were too small, nor in too few rows, nor in rows larger than the Sanhedrin itself (rows of twenty-four as opposed to the twenty-three judges). Therefore, the halachah and the accepted custom is: three rows with twenty-three in each, corresponding to the twenty-three judges, making a total of sixty-nine substitutes.
"Kol echad ve'echad makir es mekomo" - Each and every one knows his place:
Each of the sixty-nine knows his exact place in the order of importance, from the first to the sixty-ninth. In each of the three rows there are twenty-three places:
The first row: The front row, in which the senior Torah scholars sit. The greatest of the Torah scholars who do not sit on the court sits at the right end, in place number one; the next in stature is in place two, the next in place three, and so on until place twenty-three.
The second row: The twenty-fourth Torah scholar in importance sits at its right end, followed by all the rest in order.
The third row: The back row, containing the most junior among them, down to the last one, number sixty-nine, who sits at the back on the far left end.
"Hutzrechu lismoch" - If they needed to ordain:
When it is necessary to promote one of them and ordain him so that he can function as a judge. Although the example brought above dealt with a situation of "I do not know", in which a decision is lacking, the Bartenura explains here: "For example, if one of the judges died", since here the intention is to illustrate the promotion of only one person: in an addition due to "I do not know", two are added every time, whereas when one of the judges sitting in judgment dies, he must be replaced, and one person is promoted.
"Somchin min harishonah" - they ordain from the first row: the one sitting in the first place in the front row, at the right end, is the one promoted. From this point on, they all move like a sort of centipede: the one sitting in place two moves to place one, and the one sitting in place twenty-three moves one place to the right to place twenty-two. "Echad min hasheniyah ba lo larishonah" - one from the second row comes to the first: the one sitting at the right end of the second row, number twenty-four, moves to the first row to the vacant spot at the left end, place twenty-three. "Ve'echad min hashlishis ba lo lasheniyah" - and one from the third row comes to the second: the one sitting at the right end of the third row moves down to the second row, to the left end of it.
It is worth noting: although we call these seats, only the judges sat on benches; whereas the Torah scholars - the young students who are not ordained and do not function as judges - sat on the floor. These are not chairs, but seating places on the ground.
At the end of this shifting, the leftmost place in the back row, place number sixty-nine, becomes momentarily vacant, and only sixty-eight remain. Therefore, the quorum must be completed: a new person is chosen, the promising rising star among the young men, and he becomes number sixty-nine, and they seat him in the third row at the back, at the extreme left end.
Presumably, these capital cases did not occur frequently, and when this would happen the next time - after some time had passed - the students would be rearranged according to the updated ranking, which could change over time. As a final clarification: they do not let the new person simply enter the spot that was vacated. Although this sounds simple, it is unacceptable in terms of the order of precedence and the recognition of people's status. Rather, as explained, everyone moves one place like a winding centipede, and the new person sits in the empty spot created at the end of the third row, at the left end, after everyone has advanced one place.