Sotah 9:11 — Bitul hashir

The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Tisha B'Av Series
Mishnah 8 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
Part II · Witnessing
Cosmic Change and Decline
The chachamim saw the churban not only as a national catastrophe or a change in law, but as an inflection point in the very order of the world — a line drawn across time. On the far side, they perceived that reality itself had shifted: the land less giving, the senses dulled, the capacity to grow in Torah narrowed. At that lowest point, the question becomes what we can still hold on to.
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NashimSederסדרנָשִׁים
SotahMesechtaמסכתסוטה
9Perekפרקט׳
11Mishnahמשנהי״א
נושא · Topicבִּטּוּל הַשִּׁירBitul hashir
This Mishnah is:a rulewhat does that mean?
Mishnah סוטה ט׳:י״א · Sotah 9:11
מִשֶּׁבָּטְלָה סַנְהֶדְרִין,
בָּטֵל הַשִּׁיר מִבֵּית הַמִּשְׁתָּאוֹת,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה כד) בַּשִּׁיר לֹא יִשְׁתּוּ יָיִן וְגוֹ׳
When the Sanhedrin was disbanded,
song was banished from the houses of feasting,
as it is said, (Yeshayahu 24:9) "With song they shall not drink wine…"
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectrestrictive rulingreasonpasuk/proof text
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
סוֹטָה ט:יא–ט:טו — one descent, five mishnayos
This cover chart holds the whole run; each mishnah beneath it carries its own step.
מִשֶּׁבָּטְלָה סַנְהֶדְרִין — בָּטֵל הַשִּׁירSotah 9:11מִשֶּׁמֵּתוּ נְבִיאִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים — בָּטְלוּ אוּרִים וְתֻמִּיםSotah 9:12מִשֶּׁחָרַב בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ — בָּטַל הַשָּׁמִיר וְנֹפֶת צוּפִיםSotah 9:12נִטַּל טַעַם הַפֵּרוֹת... וְרֵיחַSotah 9:13מִשֶּׁמֵּת רַבִּי מֵאִיר... עַד רַבִּי — שְׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה יְרִידוֹתSotah 9:15 זְרִיזוּתנְקִיּוּתטָהֳרָהפְּרִישׁוּתקְדֻשָּׁהעֲנָוָהיִרְאַת חֵטְאחֲסִידוּתרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁתְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים עַל מִי לָנוּ לְהִשָּׁעֵן — עַל אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמָיִם the refrain — three times, at the three lowest joints רַבִּי פִנְחָס בֶּן יָאִיר — each middah brings the next …בָּא עַל יְדֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ, אָמֵן
הַיְרִידָה וְהַסֻּלָּם — the descent and the ladder (9:11–15)
Summary Chart
Bitul hashir▾
CaseRulingReason
What ceased when the Sanhedrin was disbanded?Song was banished from the houses of feastingYeshayahu 24:9
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

When the Sanhedrin fell, the song fell silent▾
עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
The ten journeys of the Sanhedrin

Even after the fall, the Sanhedrin did not simply close — it went into a slow exile of its own. The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 31a-b) counts ten journeys: from the Lishkas HaGazis to Chanus, then off the Har HaBayis, to Yavneh, Usha (twice), Shefaram, Beis She'arim, Tzippori, and at last Teveria. Each move is a rung down, the seat of justice drifting ever farther from where the Mikdash stood.

Which song fell silent

Tosafos Yom Tov cites Rav Hai Gaon to define what ceased — and the meforshim split over how far it reaches. By the Geonim, only secular song fell silent: love-songs and praise of human beauty. Songs of praise to HaKadosh Baruch Hu — shiros v'tishbachos recalling His kindnesses — stayed the custom of all Israel at a wedding and a feast. The Maharal (Netzach Yisrael), the Tosafos Yom Tov's own rebbi, holds the harder line: even song praising Hashem amid drinking was barred. The machlokes, in short: did the silence take only secular song, or sacred song too?

Series Insights
Series context▾
← Previous
Sotah 9:14
The ordinances that curbed our rejoicing
Mishnah 8 of 41
Sotah 9:11
The first loss in the catalog
Next →
Sotah 9:12
The Urim v'Tumim and nature's blessing fade

Where this opens

The mishnayos here turn from the ordinances that curbed our rejoicing into a catalog of what the Churban actually swept away. This is the first entry — and it begins not with the Mikdash but with the institution of justice, whose fall reached all the way to the song over a cup of wine.

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