Hot answers tagged capital-punishment
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Rabbi Chaim Clorfene writes in his popular (and heavily annotated) book, The Path of the Righteous Gentile (p. 42), that B'nei Noach should learn parts of the Torah relevant to their service of God, as well as to the Torah's view on God. He adds that this can be broadly applied, as many areas of Torah "can bring one to greater knowledge concerning the ...
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Sanhedrin 43a:
אמר רב חסדא היוצא ליהרג משקין אותו קורט של לבונה בכוס של יין כדי שתטרף דעתו שנאמר (משלי לא) תנו שכר לאובד ויין למרי נפש
Said Rav Chisda: One being taken out to be executed, we give him a drink of a dose of frankincense dissolved in a cup of wine, to discombobulate his mind. As the verse (Proverbs 31) says, "give strong drink to one ...
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To answer your more specific question: no, a Gentile who studies Torah in a forbidden way is still not stoned. The Rambam rules (Milchamot 10:9 and English)
ואם עסק בתורה, או שבת, או חידש דבר--מכין אותו ועונשין אותו, ומודיעין אותו שהוא חייב מיתה על זה; אבל אינו נהרג.
If a gentile studies the Torah, makes a Sabbath, or creates a religious practice, ...
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The Gemara says that a non-Jew is liable to death for stealing less than a penny. "אמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן בן נח נהרג על פחות משוה פרוטה ולא ניתן להשבון"
The Rambam agrees.
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Yes, he's liable. Here's one reason why.
Everyone agrees that a third-party rodef ("pursuer") is not subject to kim lei bideraba minei (apply the greater punishment), as the rodef is not "liable to the death penalty." Rather, we do whatever is necessary to save the "pursued", with lethal force authorized only if needed. The bystander who shoots in the heart ...
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Judicial execution is not the same as murder. The same torah that says "do not murder" also calls for the death penalty for certain transgressions, so there must be a difference.
Tractate Sanhedrin discusses capital punishment in a fair bit of detail. There are strict rules, but nonetheless a death sentence is possible and does not violate lo tirtzach.
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The Mishneh Torah, in Hilkhot Melakhim u-Milchamot 10:6-7[4-5], says:
ו [ד] בן נוח שבירך את השם, או שעבד עבודה זרה, או שבא על אשת חברו, או שהרג חברו, ונתגייר--פטור. הרג בן ישראל, או שבא על אשת ישראל, ונתגייר--חייב; והורגין אותו על בן ישראל, וחונקין אותו על אשת ישראל שבעל--שהרי נשתנה דינו.
ז [ה] כבר ביארנו שכל מיתת בני נוח בסיף--אלא אם כן בעל אשת ...
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The Gemara in Sanhedrin 7a says that Aaron's intention was noble. He saw that the Yidden had stoned Chur to death and realised if he opposed them he would meet the same end. By killing Aaron the Jews would commit an unparalleled crime, of Killing a Kohein Venovi. Just take a look at the retribution God exacted for the killing of Zecharyah, a Coheon Venovi. ...
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In the ancient Near East, gods were worshiped at their altars. This is where each god was thought to live - its altar. A very common decoration under the god was a gold bull or calf.
Although we wanted to worship an idol and were creating the calf to that end, Aaron had a different idea in mind. He wanted to create a throne for G-d. He said, "אֵלֶּה ...
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Because of the length, I am including this as a separate answer:
As far as a death penalty for studying forbidden topics, the Lechem Mishneh commentary on the Rambam writes that there is no actual death penalty in this case, whether judicial or divine. He writes that it is a non-literal, rabbinic "death penalty" (Hil. Melachim, 10:9; see ad loc where he ...
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We find in Sanhedrin 14a that the government ruled that any one who gives or receives Semicha will be put to death.. Yehudah Ben Bava gave Semicha to 5 students between two cities.. when the Goyim found out, Yehudah Ben Bava told his students: Run
The famous story of Rashbi who ran away in a cave for 12-13 years because the secular courts wanted to kill ...
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This is an interesting question but conceptually should apply outside of non-Jewish courts. If chazal say that death atones and a person has done something for which a Jewish court would conceivably mete out the death sentence (like, in your example, murder) then shouldn't a person seek the atonement if not by a Jewish court then by other means? He could ...
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Aside from all the answers provided above, I would like to point out that one's devotion to any cause can best be demonstrated by following the dictates of the cause.
I will give two practical examples:
When my kids want to "help", I always tell them that if they truly want to help, they need to do something that is actually helpful. This means that ...
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It should be noted that even if you had violated a law subject to the death penalty, and I don't think you have, the death penalty can only be ordered by the Great Sanhedrin -- which doesn't presently exist -- when sitting and hearing cases in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the Holy Temple -- which also doesn't presently exist. Moreover, the Sanhedrin itself ...
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A non-Jew is permitted to observe mitzvos, with the two expeptions of Shabbos and studying Torah, as is explained in Rambam (Hilchos Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 10):
We should not prevent a gentile who desires to perform one of the Torah's mitzvot in order to receive reward from doing so, provided he performs it as required. If he brings an animal to be ...
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