Editing Mesechtas Sanhedrin (section)

== Ir HaNidachat (The Subverted City) ==
On page 15b, there is a dispute between Rabbi Yoshiah and Rabbi Yonatan regarding the laws of Ir HaNidachat. According to Rabbi Yoshiah, from 10 to 100 people who worship idols, they are judged as an Ir HaNidachat, and their punishment is like that of an individual who worshipped idols, but fewer than ten are judged as individuals, and from 100 and above they are judged as a community. Whereas according to Rabbi Yonatan, only from 100 and above until the majority of a tribe are they judged as an Ir HaNidachat, but fewer than that are judged as individuals.

The Rebbe explains that this is a general dispute between Rabbi Yoshiah and Rabbi Yonatan throughout the Shas, where Rabbi Yoshiah prefers the power of the collective, and therefore from ten and above he considers them a collective - a "city," and from one hundred they are a community. Whereas Rabbi Yonatan advocates for the power of the individual, and therefore up to one hundred people, the law of idol worshippers is as individuals. This dispute appears throughout the Shas.

Additional examples of this are in the dispute between Rabbi Yoshiah and Rabbi Yonatan regarding one who strikes his father and mother, whether the verse means specifically one who strikes both of them - which is the opinion of Rabbi Yoshiah who holds that father and mother are a single reality of "his parents," as opposed to Rabbi Yonatan who holds that each one is a separate reality in this matter, and therefore the meaning of the verse is one who strikes either of them, and his punishment is also death.