Sanhedrin Chapter 10, Mishnah 4. At the end of the previous section, we learned about the third of the four methods by which the beis din executes a person - hereg. This death penalty is also called "sayif", since it is performed with a sword and by decapitation, and two transgressions incur this penalty: murder, and the people of an ir hanidachas (a subverted city).
An ir hanidachas is a wayward city - a city in Israel that has turned to idol worship. The three previous mishnayos, which dealt with those who have no share in the World to Come and with the resurrection of the dead, served as a sort of preparation for the opening words of our mishnah: "Anshei ir hanidachas ein lahen chelek laOlam Haba" - The people of a subverted city have no share in the World to Come. From this point on, the mishnah sets aside the rest of those who have no share in the World to Come, and returns to the topic of the ir hanidachas and how its laws are applied - the subject of the next three mishnayos, which are the remainder of the chapter.
There are two fundamental differences between the people of an ir hanidachas and an individual who worshipped idols:
The form of execution: An individual convicted of idol worship, with witnesses and a warning, is sentenced to sekilah (stoning). However, the participants in an ir hanidachas, when the criteria discussed in our mishnah are met, are sentenced to hereg - by the sword - instead of stoning.
The law regarding property: All the property in an ir hanidachas must be destroyed, and everything is burned. The heirs of the guilty do not inherit anything, and even the property of the innocent, who did not worship idols, is burned along with them, and the city shall never be rebuilt.
Now we must define at what stage a person's actions are considered part of an ir hanidachas, rendering him liable to this special punishment instead of the standard stoning.
The text of the mishnah:
The mishnah opens: "Anshei ir hanidachas ein lahen chelek laOlam Haba, shene'emar: yatzu anashim bnei beliyaal mikirbecha vayadichu es yoshvei iram" - The people of a subverted city have no share in the World to Come, as it says: "Men, scoundrels, have gone out from your midst and subverted the inhabitants of their city." "Anashim bnei beliyaal" - people who have cast off the yoke of Heaven, as Rashi explains; "mikirbecha" - from your midst; "vayadichu" - an expression of pushing aside, and from this expression the name of the city that was pushed aside is derived, the ir hanidachas.
The Bartenura explains the word "beliyaal" as a portmanteau of two words: "beli" - without, and "yaal" - an expression of rising. That is to say, people who have no rising and resurrection: they will not merit the resurrection of the dead and the World to Come that follows it. To this is added another hint in the term "nidachim" (subverted) - that they are pushed away from before Hashem and do not receive the World to Come.
Who are those who lose their share in the World to Come?
According to the Bartenura: The reference is to all the participants in the ir hanidachas who worshipped idols, and they lose their share in the World to Come only if they were not actually punished. For one who is punished by the beis din, provided he repented and confessed before his execution, his death and the decomposition of his flesh in the grave serve as atonement for his sin, and if he had other merits he will indeed merit the World to Come. Our mishnah is therefore dealing with those who evaded punishment: they think they escaped justice, but they do not escape.
According to other opinions: Since the context deals with "anashim bnei beliyaal" (scoundrels), the reference is to the subverters themselves - the instigators who led the city astray. Due to the severity of their crime, in subverting an entire city, it is they who lose their spiritual world, and not the regular residents.
The conditions for the law of an ir hanidachas to apply:
Four conditions are listed in our mishnah, an additional one in the Gemara, and two are brought by the Rambam, yielding a baseline of at least seven conditions:
The instigators were residents of that same city.
The instigators were from the tribe that the city represents.
The instigators were specifically men, as the verse uses the term "anashim" (men).
The majority of the city was swayed to the ways of idolatry.
In the Gemara: There were at least two instigators, as it says "anashim" in the plural.
In the Rambam: The verse speaks of an "ir" (city), and therefore it is not a small village - it must have at least one hundred residents - nor is it a large metropolis, but rather a mid-sized town.
In the Rambam: The residents of that city are a minority of the tribe's members, not the majority.
And in the words of the Mishnah:
"Ve'ein neheragin" - they are not judged with the law of the people of an ir hanidachat (a subverted city),
"Ad sheyiheyu madiheha me'otah ir" - unless the instigators who subverted them were residents of that same city,
"Ume'oto shevet" - and they were members of the tribe in whose territory the city is located,
"Ve'ad sheyudach rubah" - and unless the majority of the city's inhabitants were subverted,
"Ve'ad sheyadichum anashim" - and unless the instigators were specifically men, not women.
"Hidichuha nashim uketanim, o shehudach miyutah, o shehayu madiheha hutzah lah - harei elu kiyechidim" - if the instigators were women or minors, or if only a minority of the city was subverted, or if the instigators came from outside it, each of the idolaters in the city is judged as an individual and not as a person of an ir hanidachat: his penalty is stoning, and his heirs inherit his property.
"Utzerichin shenei edim vehatra'ah lechol echad ve'echad" - two witnesses and a warning are required for each individual separately. The Gemara describes that they would set up many courts throughout the city in order to judge everyone quickly and verify that each and every participant indeed committed idolatry according to witnesses, and that he received a warning.
It goes without saying that in all capital cases, witnesses and a warning are required. Therefore, the novelty of the Mishnah, according to the Ohr Hachaim and others, lies in the content of the warning: they needed to be warned that their participation in idolatry as part of the city would result in them being judged as the people of an ir hanidachat. In the absence of this specific warning, they are not judged with the laws of an ir hanidachat.
"Zeh chomer biyechidim mibemerubim" - there is a stringency that applies to individuals who committed idolatry as compared to a group judged as an ir hanidachat:
"Shehayechidim bisekila, lefichach mamonam palat" - individuals are judged with the more severe punishment of stoning, and therefore their assets are spared and their heirs inherit their property.
"Vehamerubim besayif, lefichach mamonam avad" - the people of an ir hanidachat, who meet all the conditions, are judged with the sword, but conversely, their property is lost and destroyed, and their heirs do not inherit it.
In summary: In this Mishnah, we learned the foundations of the law of an ir hanidachat. Its people have no portion in the World to Come - whether according to the explanation that this refers to participants who were not punished, or the explanation that this refers to the instigators themselves. We examined the seven conditions for the law to take effect - the identity of the instigators, their tribe, their gender and their number, the subversion of the majority of the city and its size - and the need for two witnesses and an explicit warning for each and every individual. Finally, we examined the inverse relationship between the severity of the death penalty and the monetary law: individuals are punished by stoning and their property is spared, while the many are punished by the sword and their property is lost.
In the following sections, we will continue with the details of the law of an ir hanidachat in the three Mishnayot later in the chapter.