Does Down Syndrome make one a Shoteh?

Question

I had a very strange experience and I would like to know what halacha thinks.

I was in shul on Shabbos, and an adult with Down Syndrome ripped by opening the box of tissues. I was not going to say anything, but I guess he noticed my disapproval of what he had done. Now I remind you I said nothing. He looks at me with a straight face and says, "Don't worry; I am a Shoteh." Now, I want you realize that he was intelligent enough to read my face and understand what I thought he did was wrong, yet I still want to know: Is he actually correct?

Answer 1

It would likely depend on the specific individual, but generally a low functional IQ does not render someone a halachic shoteh ("insane" or "irrational.") I assume that was your question about Down Syndrome was effectively asking about a low IQ.

We have the concept of oness Rachmana patrei, G-d does not hold us accountable for what's truly beyond our control. Hence a person is exempted from mitzva obligations if they lack the cognitive ability needed for their most basic performance. I very much doubt that was the case in the incident you described; and I hope that individual is getting the help he needs (it seems he's crying out for it).

There is the famous, famous responsum of the Chasam Sofer (or was it one of his descendants?) about institutionalizing an individual such that only non-kosher food will be available, with the goal of increasing their ability to function. Rabbi JD Bleich proves conclusively (yutorah mp3 available) that the case concerned a developmentally challenged individual (who is obligated in most mitzvas), not a severely insane one (who is not).

After using the term shoteh (exempt from mitzva obligation) 50-something times in his code, Rambam then writes:

ט,ט [י] הפתיים ביותר שאינן מכירין דברים הסותרין זה את זה, ולא יבינו ענייני הדבר כדרך שמבינין שאר עם הארץ, וכן המבוהלין והנחפזין בדעתם, והמשתגעים בדעתן ביותר--הרי כל אלו בכלל השוטים. ודבר זה, לפי מה שיראה הדיין, שאי אפשר לכוון הדעות בכתב.

The exceedingly simple, who cannot understand that both A and B cannot be true as they conflict with one another, are considered shoteh and therefore disqualified from serving as witnesses ... and such matters must be judged individually by the judge and can't fit an easy written criterion.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says that for the first 50-something uses of shoteh (which are all about his mitzva obligations in general), Rambam didn't have to define it -- it meant someone who you know it when you see it, someone completely crazy and disconnected from reality. It was only with regards to serving as a witness that the severely developmentally challenged is excluded.

Answer 2

Someone with Downs who cannot understand the mitzvah in question would be a pesi. A shoteh is someone incapable of choosing right over wrong. The Rambam may have blamed that on an inability to comprehend, but more modern psychological theories would attribute it to impulse control, an inability to relate to consequences, and psychiatric rather than intellectual issues.

(I wouldn't use the Rambam's definition, because Aristo got psychology wrong. We no longer think that right vs wrong decisions depend on knowledge. The Rambam clearly did.)

There is a question where pesi fits in to the classical "cheireish, shoteh, veqatan". The better-known idea is that a pesi is a shoteh despite the difference in cause. Someone with Downs knows right from wrong; it's a question of which details of the halakhah he can be taught. R' Herschel Schachter made a strong argument that a pesi is actually a cheireish, even if he is able to both hear and speak. Today's deaf mute is not considered a cheireish because he is educable, thus showing that a cheireish is exempt for reasons of educability. Which someone who has intellectual limitations does as well.

In any case, someone with Downs who can explain that he's a shoteh and thus allegedly exempt isn't really handicapped enough to be exempt from anything.

Answer 3

Rabbi Shmuel Singer in his book "A Parent's Guide to Teaching Children Mitzvot: A Halakhic Guide" with the Haskama of Rav Hershel Schechter writes: (on page 143)

Modern poskim agree that if a special child has the potential to achieve the intellectual level of an average six-year-old...
Upon reaching bar or bat mitzvah such a child will be obligated to observe all the mitzvot just as an ordinary Jewish adult must.

his source is (footnote 23 on page 149):

Minchas Shlomo, siman 34 and Tshuvos Hagoen Rav Moshe Feinstein in the booklet Am HaTorah 2.2

so it seems it depends on the degree of potential intelligence of this Down Syndrome individual (society calling him a Shote does not make it so, since they often do so to intelligent individuals)