Q&A: Two Are Like a Hundred
Two Are Like a Hundred
Question
Is there a logical explanation for the Talmudic rule that two are like a hundred? Surely if there are two witnesses against a hundred, it is much, much more likely that the two are lying.
Answer
Two are like a hundred because you have to draw the line somewhere. But one should remember that this line is a formal halakhic one. At least in monetary law, the formal rules of evidence are binding only where the judge has not become convinced on his own in a direct way. And in capital cases and punishments as well, there is the law of a deceptive case, and therefore if the judge becomes convinced that the hundred are more likely to be right, he can at least recuse himself, or even rule in their favor. See Maimonides, beginning of chapter 20 and beginning of chapter 24 in the laws of Sanhedrin.
Discussion on Answer
First, you need a line in order to decide even when there is no opposition. Second, according to your suggestion this would never end. We would constantly wait in case another witness might be found. And again, all this is not all that important, as I explained.
So that they should not say two giving the same reason from two different verses, as Rabbi Assi asked Rabbi Yohanan: If two state the same reason from two different verses, what is the law? He said to him: They are counted only as one.
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They came to Noah two by two.
Falsehood came and wanted to enter. Noah said to him: You cannot, unless you take a mate for yourself. He encountered Want, and she said to him: Where are you coming from? He said to her: From Noah. I went wanting to enter the ark, but he would not let me; he said to me: If you have a partner, you may enter. And if you want, be my partner. She said to him: And what will you give me? He said to her: I stipulate with you that whatever I acquire, you will take. They agreed between them that whatever Falsehood brings in, Want will take, and the two of them entered the ark. Once he came out, Falsehood went and gathered things, and Want took everything first. Falsehood came and said to her: Where is everything I gathered? She said to him: Did you not make an agreement with me that whatever you bring in, I take? And he had no answer. Therefore it says: “He conceives trouble and gives birth to falsehood.”
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What do you mean by saying that you have to draw the line somewhere? You could say instead—and on the face of it that also makes more sense—that three are better than two, four better than three, and so on. The question is really about the formal rule.