[Avodah] Kategor and Sanegor

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
> Kategoros and sanegoros are Greek  terms. And in fact, we don't have
> lawyers in beis din. (In the  adversarial/advoacate sense of the word,
> although to'anim do serve as  representatives.)

> So why is the metaphor used on Yamim Noraim taken from  the Roman judicial
> system -- arkaos?

We may have borrowed Greek terms but we don't mean exactly the same
things by them. It has always been my impression that the kategor and
sanegor are not lawyers, but witnesses, for the prosecution and for the
defense. The deeds you do and even the words you say -- whether words of
tefillah and Torah, or words of loshon hara and so on -- create angels
that go up to Heaven and speak for you or against you. "The" kategor is
the Satan who seems to be in charge of a platoon of all the sins you've
committed -- all the accusing angels you've created with your sins.
"The" Sanegor is HKB'H who keeps finding ways to "discredit" the accusing
angels and give extra weight to the defending angels. (In a human court
a witness for the defense couldn't also be the judge, but in a divine
court it's different.) "Defending" angels isn't a 100% accurate way to
describe all of them because "defense" witnesses would be the ones who
testify about your crimes but in mitigation -- you didn't mean to do
it, you were forced by circumstances, you didn't know it was a crime,
etc etc -- whereas some of the angel-witnesses are more like character
witnesses who are bringing positive testimony of all the good things
you've done for which you deserve a reduction in your sentence or even
deserve a reward, more like witnesses to the Nobel Prize Committee.

--Toby Katz
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