Mitzva 47 – Capital Punishment Rabbi Ian (Chaim) Pear 1) Sefer HaChinuch Mitzvah 47 מצות בית דין להרג בחנק המחיב - שנצטוינו להמית העוברים על קצת מצות שבתורה בחנק, שנאמר (שמות כא יב) מכה איש ומת מות יומת. וזו של מכה איש אחת מהן שמיתתו בחנק, שהרי כתוב בו מות יומת, ובפרוש אמרו ז''ל (סנהדרין נב ב) כל מיתה .האמורה בתורה סתם אינה אלא חנק. The commandment on the court (beit din) to kill with strangulation one who is liable: That we have been commanded to kill the transgressors of some of the commandments of the Torah with strangulation, as it is stated (Exodus 21:12), "He who strikes a man and [that man] dies shall surely be put to death." And this one of "One who strikes a man" is one of the ones whose death penalty is with strangulation. Since it is written about it, "[he] shall surely die" ‐ and in the explanation, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 52b), "Any death penalty stated in the Torah undifferentiated is only strangulation." שורש מצוה זו נגלה לכל, כי (משלי כט ד) מלך במשפט יעמיד ארץ, שאלולי יראת המשפט יהרגו בני אדם זה את זה, על כן צונו האל ברוך הוא להמית הרוצח, ובחכמתו ברוך הוא ראה שראוי לענש אותו במיתת חנק. והדבר נאות גם לדעתנו כי (ויקרא כד יט) כאשר עשה כן יעשה לו, והרוצח כונתו להמית הנרצח במהרה כי מפחדו אליו ימהר מיתתו בכל כחו, וכמו כן הקלה התורה במשפטו להמיתו בחנק (בשאר הדפוסים כתוב האמת כי הרוצח מיתתו בסייף ומכה אביו ואמו מיתתו בחנק) שהיא מיתה .ממהרת, ולא בשרפה וסקילה שהן בצער רב The root of this commandment is revealed to all, as 'by justice a king sustains the land.' As were it not for the fear of judgment, people would kill one another. Therefore, God, blessed be He, commanded us to kill the murderer. And in His wisdom, blessed be He, He saw that it is fitting to punish him with the death penalty of strangulation. And the matter is beautiful, also according to our [understanding], since 'as he has done, so shall it be done to him' ‐ since the intention of the killer was to kill the murdered quickly, as from [the killer's] fear of him, he will quicken his death with all of his might. And so too was the Torah lenient with his judgment to kill him with strangulation, which is a quick death penalty; and not with stoning and burning, which are with great pain. משנה מכות י:א (2 סנהדרין ההורגת אחד בשבוע )=בשבע שנים( נקראת חובלנית .רבי אליעזר בן עזריה אומר: אחד לשבעים שנה .רבי טרפון ורבי עקיבא אומרים: אילו היינו בסנהדרין, לא נהרג אדם מעולם .רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר אף הן מרבין שופכי דמים בישראל רמב"ם, ספר המצוות רצ (3 אם לא נקיים את העונשים ]גם[ באומד החזק מאוד, הרי לא יוכל לקרות יותר משנפטור .את החוטא; אבל אם נקיים את העונשים באומד ובדימוי, אפשר ביום מן הימים נהרוג נקי .ויותר טוב ויותר רצוי לפטור אלף חוטאים מלהרוג נקי אחד ביום מן הימים אגרת משה, סימן פח (4 בענין עונש מיתה: מעלת כבוד שר המדינה הנכבד וחביב עלינו מאד יאריך השם יתברך ימיו ושנותיו וממשילתו בטוב ובנעימים הנני רגשותי באהבה ובירת הכבוד ראשית לשר המדינה בדבר רצונו לידע דעת התורה "The ethics and morals involved in this decision are too complex for me. I believe they are too complex for you as well. Therefore I referred it to an old rabbi on the Lower East Side of New York. He is a great scholar, a saintly individual. He knows how to answer such questions. When he tells me, I too will know." 5) Sanhedrin 37A “Know ye that capital verdicts are not comparable to monetary judgments. In monetary matters a person can return the money and find atonement; in capital cases the blood [of the executed criminal] and the blood of his progeny until the end of time hang in balance.” מכילתא דרשב"י כא:יד , תלמוד בבלי עבודה זרה ח:, ומשנה תורה שופטים יד:יג (6 מעם מזבחי תקחנו למות... אם יש מזבח אתה ממית ואם לאו אי אתה ממית מ' שנה עד שלא חרב הבית גלתה סנהדרין וישבה לה בחנות... שלא דנו דיני נפשות. מא טעמא? כיון דחזו דנפישי להו רוצחין ולא יכלי למידן ]=כיון שראו שרבו הרוצחים ולא יכולים היו לדונם[ אמרו: מוטב נגלי ממקום למקום כי היכי דלא ליחייבו ]=אמרו: מוטב נגלה ממקום למקום כדי שלא יתחייבו 7) Rosh Chapter 17 (and Rivash 238) Although the four types of capital punishment were abolished when the Sanhedrin moved from its location in the Holy Temple, the significance of this rule is that one cannot be sentenced to death in a court of law for committing a capital crime … the killing of a pursuer, however, in the cases discussed in the Mishnah, is not a punishment for committing a crime, but rather a measure for saving the pursued from death or injury and was not abolished. 8) Sanhendrin 46A תניא רבי אליעזר בן יעקב אומר: שמעתי שבית דין מכין ועונשין שלא מן התורה, ולא לעבור .על דברי תורה, אלא כדי לעשות סייג לתורה. ומעשה באחד שרכב על סוס בשבת בימי יונים והביאוהו לבית דין וסקלוהו. לא מפני שראוי לכך, אלא שהשעה צריכה לכך. שוב מעשה באדם אחד שהטיח את אשתו תחת התאנה, והביאוהו לבית דין והלקוהו, לא מפני שראוי .לכך אלא שהשעה צריכה לכך 9) Drashot HaRan, #11 שופטים ושוטרים וגו' ושפטו את העם משפט וצד (דברים טז) "JUDGES AND OFFICERS SHALL YOU APPOINT IN ALL YOUR GATES THAT THE L‐RD YOUR G‐D GIVES YOU, ACCORDING TO YOUR TRIBES, AND LET THEM JUDGE THE PEOPLE A RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT" (DEUTERONOMY 16:18) Rashi writes in his commentary: "Appoint righteous, expert judges to judge righteously." He was constrained to interpret it thus, for if it were understood as an exhortation to the judges to judge righteously, this is already stated afterwards (Ibid 19): "Do not pervert judgment." He, therefore, interprets it as meaning that the judges who are appointed should be capable of judging righteously; that is, that they should be righteous and expert. And thus is it stated (Sifrei 17): "'A righteous judgment' — but is it not already written 'Do not pervert judgment' by saying: 'This man is prepossessing; this man is my relative' (and I will make him a judge)? This must be an exhortation, then, to appoint a judge who is righteous and expert." I understand the plain meaning of the verse as follows: It is accepted that men need judges to judge between them, for in their absence (Avoth 3:2) "One man would swallow the other alive" and the world would become corrupt. And every people requires some form of government, the sage going so far as to say: "Even thieves recognize the necessity of justice within their society." And Israel needs this just as the other nations do. But they also need judges for an additional reason — to enforce the laws of the Torah and to punish those liable to stripes or to judicial death penalties, whether or not their transgression is detrimental to society. And, certainly, these two considerations entail two functions, respectively: one, punishing a man in accordance with true justice; the other (though he not be liable to punishment in terms of true justice), punishing him for the benefit of society and the exigencies of the hour. The Blessed One assigned each of these functions to distinct functionaries. He commanded that judges be appointed to administer true, righteous judgment. This is the intent of "and let them judge the people a righteous judgment." That is, the verse indicates the function and jurisdiction of these judges, saying that the purpose of their appointment is to judge the people with a judgment that is true and righteous in itself, and that their jurisdiction does not extend beyond this function. And because the needs of society are not completely served with this alone, G‐d provides for the appointment of a king. We shall explain this further in respect to one of the aforementioned considerations. We learned (Sanhedrin 40b): "The rabbis taught: 'The witnesses are to be cross‐examined in the following manner: Do you recognize him [the defendant]? Did you warn him and did he acknowledge the warning? Did he commit the crime knowing it was punishable by death? Did he kill right after you had warned him?…'" Unquestionably, all of these are prerequisites for a "righteous judgment." For why should a man be killed for a transgression which he did not know to be punishable by death? This explains the necessity for his acknowledgment of the warning and for all of the other things mentioned in that baraitha. This is the true, righteous judgment in itself, that was assigned to the judges. But if law‐breakers were punished in this context alone, the structure of society would break down completely, for, in the absence of the fear of punishment, the number of murderers would dramatically increase. Therefore, for the well‐being of society, the Blessed One mandated the appointment of a king, as stated in this parshah (Deuteronomy 17:14‐15): "and when you come to the land… place a king over you…," this constituting a mitzvah to appoint a king, according to the tradition of our sages of blessed memory (Sifrei, Sanhedrin 20b). And the king can punish without prior warning as he deems fit for the good of the kingdom. We find, then, that the appointment of a king serves a common purpose for Israel and for the other peoples who require a societal structure, and that the appointment of judges serves a distinct purpose for Israel, as stated: "and let them judge the people a righteous judgment." That is, the purpose of the judges and the area of their jurisdiction is the administration of judgments that are righteous and true in themselves.