[Avodah] Prophet - mashgiach or godol hador?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' David Riceman wrote:
> From: "Daniel Eidensohn" <yadmoshe at 012.net.il>
>> At first glance the Rambam's introduction does seem to support your 
>> point. However, beis din here is not necessarily Sanhedrin. For 
>> example Dovid can not be head of Sanhedrin because he was king.
> It's true that the Rambam says this in H. Melachim 2:5 about malchei 
> beith david, but the Kessef Mishna here says unapologetically that 
> David was a Rosh Sanhedrin.  See Hasdei David on Tosefta Sanhedrin 2:8 
> for a possible solution.
The Kesef Mishna is not saying that the **Rambam** holds Dovid was the 
head of Sanhedrin - and we are concerned with the Rambam's view not the 
Kesef Mishna. Furthermore I could find no source that says that Dovid 
was the head of Sanhedrin. It also contradicts Berachos 3b which states 
that Benaiah and Jehoiada were the heads of Sanhedrin in the time of 
Dovid. We are faced with the problem of what the Rambam meant by the 
prophet's beis din. There is apparently no source in Tanach or Chazal 
for such a statement. The parallel text in Avos (1:1) makes no menion of 
beis din.  Furthermore he clearly said that a king from beis Dovid could 
not be a member of Sanhedrin. It is also unclear what the Rambam 
(Commentary to Sanhedrin 2:2) that Dovid was included in the Sanhedrin. 
R' Kapach cites Sanhedrin (107a) that the Sanhedrin separated from him 
for 6 months when he sinned. Maharal to Sanhedrin explains that Dovid 
was rejected by the elite of the society because of his sins. It doesn't 
seem to mean that Dovid was a judge in the Sanhedrin.

I'll stick with my view that the Rambam is describing the links in 
teaching Oral Torah and was not describing Sanhedrin at all. However 
there doesn't seem to be any hard data which would resolve our disagreement.

Daniel Eidensohn