Questions tagged [capital-punishment]
Questions pertaining to capital-punishment according to Jewish law.
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Why is one obligated to the death penalty if he follows Beis Shamai
Why is it, that if one were to follow Beis Shamai's halachic opinions, he'd be obligated to the death penalty, as we see the Gemara in Brachos 11a says that:
רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר עשה כדברי בית שמאי ...
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Who must forewarn transgressors?
The Gemara in Makkot 6b says that a transgressor in capital cases is never executed unless his two witnesses were the ones who forewarned him, because the Torah says: "At the mouth [Al pi] of two ...
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How can Kares be greater than execution by beis din (and also eternal according to R' Kapach)?
In this exposition of what kares means, the following view is quoted:
[...] R. Yosef Kafach (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Teshuvah ch. 8 n. 4) offers a different interpretation. He suggests that the ...
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Is kares a greater punishment than capital punishment, or vice versa?
In many cases (e.g., no warning, no witnesses) a capital crime is not punished by a beis din, but instead the offender gets kares. Let's assume for the purposes of this question that kares includes ...
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How was the megadeif given the death penalty if the punishment wasn’t known?
Inspired by How was the mekoshesh given the death penalty if the punishment wasnt know yet?
The OP there asks how the Mekoshesh, the one who chopped wood on Shabbos could be put to death if he needs ...
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How was the Mekoshesh given the death penalty if the punishment wasn't known yet?
How was the Mekoshesh given the death penalty if the punishment wasn't known yet, so he couldn't have been warned, being that the warning must contain the exact punishment for that act?
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Can a King execute Kohen Gadol that he thinks is מורד במלכות?
While Kohen Gadol is a citizen, he belongs to a different "authority" that a King is obligated to respect (see Rambam Melachim 2, 5):
"אבל כהן גדול אינו בא לפני המלך אלא אם רצה ואינו עומד לפניו
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1answer
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Are observant Jews of today more pious than observant Jews of the Sanhedrin period?
Allow me to explain the logic of the question:
During the time of the Sanhedrin, a Jew could be put to death for not following the law. While it was certainly enforced for things like murder, it ...
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4answers
288 views
Could a Jewish court try and execute a non-Jew?
When capital punishment was possible, could a beit din try and sentence a non-Jewish defendant that committed a capital crime? Or would a non-Jew whose transgression affected Jews never be tried by a ...
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Do Karaite Jews still believe that adulterers should get the death penalty?
This is a genuine question. As a Christian, I am often asked by atheists why I don't think adulterers should get the death penalty when Leviticus 20:10 clearly says that they should. My response to ...
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Capital Punishment and Kares simultaneously
I always understood that if a person does something that warrants capital punishment, and there are witnesses who warned them against the crime, that's all they are punished with. If it was done ...
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If somebody is over 60 and does an aveirah for which the punishment is misah biyedei shamayim, what happens?
I was learning today's Tanya (יג תמוז, beginning of אגרת התשובה פרק ד)
I have a question based on the following part:
כשעבר עבירה שחייבים עליה כרת, הי׳ מת ממש קודם חמשים שנה
A violator of a ...
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1answer
35 views
is a animal more responsible then a child? if yes why?
if an animal kills a Jew it deserves the death penalty source
if a child (under 13/12) kills a Jew he is completely free (no consequences)?
if yes why?
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1answer
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Censuring a variant reading
In Lev 24 we read the phrase "an eye for an eye." The talmud teaches (in Bava Kamma and Ketubot) that this refers to monetary value. Is there any source which criticizes a literal reading?
More than ...
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What stops a modern Jew from practising stoning?
What stops a modern Jew from practising stoning? why don’t observant Jews keep the laws of death penalties as prescribed in the Torah?
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1answer
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Capital punishment in Persia
This is not a Purim joke. Translations of the Book of Esther say the king sentenced people to be "hanged". But modern translations (including Sefaria) say they were "impaled". They translate "ha-...
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What does the Halakhah says regarding Devarim, 22.13-21 regarding מוציא שם רע - Motzi Shem Ra?
I am an Italian gentile believer in HaShem, who engages in the observance of the noahide precepts, as commanded by the Creator in the Torah.
I have never understood the exact meaning of Devarim 22:13-...
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2answers
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Yom Kippur more lenient than Shabbos?
The potential punishment for an av melacha on Shabbos is stoning (ch"v). (Obviously, only under certain circumstances and after repeated attempts to dissuade the sinner.) However, I learned here that ...
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1answer
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What is the “death”? If Gentiles keep Shabbat?
What is the death? Physically? Or spiritually?
A gentile who abstains from melacha is liable to death as it says "day and night they shall not stop" (sanhedrin 58b)
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How did the talmud's description of stoning work in practice?
I am trying to understand the description of stoning given in Sanhedrin 45a (starting here). To summarize: They take the condemned to a place that is twice a man's height, the first witness pushes ...
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How can we reconcile Devarim 24:16 with BaMidbar 16:27?
It is written at BaMidbar 16:27 וַיֵּעָלוּ, מֵעַל מִשְׁכַּן-קֹרַח דָּתָן וַאֲבִירָם--מִסָּבִיב; וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם יָצְאוּ נִצָּבִים, פֶּתַח אָהֳלֵיהֶם, וּנְשֵׁיהֶם וּבְנֵיהֶם, וְטַפָּם (here it ...
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What is the significance of ובערת הרע מקרבך and ובערת הרע מישראל?
On seven occasions, Moshe tells the Bnei Yisrael to kill a sinner and “destroy the evil from your midst” - ובערת הרע מקרבך. These seven occasions are (all sources are in Devarim):
Executing a Navi ...
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3answers
225 views
Murderous Yibum
What is the Halacha in the following case: Reuven and Shimon are brothers. Reuven marries Rachel and has no children (Rachel is
not pregnant). Shimon decides that he wants to be married to Rachel, ...
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1answer
379 views
Sudden Menstruation and Sex
I am having trouble finding any treatment of this topic on the internet.
A couple who has been having sex suddenly discovers that a blood flow has begun. Are they liable for kareth? Leviticus 15 ...
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3answers
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If a kohen participates in a stoning is he still allowed to bless the people?
The shulchan aruch codifies that a Kohen who kills someone may not bless the people. If, in the times when the Sanhedrin administered capital punishment, a Kohen saw a situation that warranted the ...
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3answers
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How to understand Hilchot Mamrim 3?
In Hilchot Mamrim 3a, it states:
מי שאינו מאמין בתורה שבעל פה, אינו זקן ממרא האמור בתורה, אלא הרי הוא בכלל המינים, ומיתתו ביד כל אדם. [ב] מאחר שנתפרסם שהוא כופר בתורה שבעל פה--מורידין ולא מעלין, ...
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Why did God sanction killing everything that breathes against the 7 nations?
Why did God sanction killing everything that breathes against the 7 nations?
Why did God sanction such a thing? How is every single person of these nations to blame?
Deuteronomy 20:16 "However, of ...
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How many Israelites were punished for the golden calf?
We know that 3,000 were killed by sword as punishment for the sin of the golden calf. But how many were killed by the plague, and how many by the water ordeal? (How many of these were B'nei Yisroel ...
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Why does the Gemara go through each death penalty?
The Gemara Sanhedrin 50a writes the order of the death penalties.
It starts with Stoning, proving that Stoning is more severe than any other form of death penalty. Then it moves to Burning, proving ...
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Are we still obligated to do capital punishment for Karet? [duplicate]
According to Halacha and the Torah, are we still obligated to do capital punishment like stoning people for sins like breaking Shabbat? Is this rule kind of swept under the rug or is there a reason ...
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Theoretically, in a perfect environment, what would happen if a king would commit a capital crime?
The Mishna (according to the Gemara) says that kings of the house of Yehuda (basically, the good kings) and all kings before King Yannai would be judged, and the Radvaz writes that (in theory), a king ...
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Sanhedrin 6:6 - Halacha or common practice?
The Mishna in Sanhedrin 6:6 speaks about after a Sanhedrin kills a someone who is liable the death penalty:
והקרובים באים ושואלין בשלום הדיינים. ובשלום העדים. כלומר שאין בלבנו עליכם כלום. שדין אמת ...
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2answers
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Is a non-Jew executed in Beit Din hung? Is his body Promptly Removed?
Do the laws in Devarim 21:22-23 referring to the commandment to hang as well as the prohibition of leaving the body apply to a gentile who is executed by Beit Din in Eretz Yisroel?
22 And if a man ...
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1answer
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Assisted suicide and Sabbath desecration
Someone with a chronic illness wants his Orthodox caretaker to remove him from life support.
The sick man invites a pair of witnesses and a bet din of 23 into his hospital room where the witnesses ...
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1answer
137 views
Pinchas-style act nowadays
Is there any situation whereby a Pinchas-style execution would be justified nowadays?
I am particularly interested in whether a 'zealous act' against a public sexually problematic sin is possible in ...
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How do modern Jews observe commands that talk about putting people to death? [duplicate]
Leviticus 20:10 talks about putting adulterous peoples to death.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 talks about putting a rebellious son to death:
... his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring ...
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2answers
344 views
Does teshuva remove punishment?
In Bamidbar 15, the text speaks of someone who commits an intentional sin (mentioning idolatry and blasphemy) and says that kareit is the punishment (if there was no warning) etc. Then the story of ...
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1answer
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Death penalty for non-Jews
Murder in the Torah is punished by the death penalty, but with many conditions.
Were the rules of death penalty the same for Jews and non-Jews living in the holy land?
What were the differences?
...
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Atonement and the Death Penalty
"Ordinary murderers are allowed to achieve atonement for their souls in their execution. Only especially vile murderers - such as a false witness whose lies are discovered after the person who was ...
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Does a dead man walking get saved on Shobbos?
There's a man who's חייב מיתה by the kingdom. He's in jail waiting to be executed when he slips and falls and bashes his head on Shobbos.
There a guards that could save him.
Do the guards have to ...
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3answers
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Why were Haman's sons killed?
While the text explicitly states that Zeresh was involved in the plot to kill Mordechai (5:14), it never states that Haman's sons did anything wrong. If Korach's sons can end up being meritorious, why ...
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Can one be deserving of execution and karet for placing a stumbling block in front of the blind?
For example, if one man does not commit idol worship, or eat chametz on Pesach, but attempts to get another man to violate these mitzvot. Would an ancient Beit Din find this man guilty of a capital ...
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3answers
672 views
Stoning of homosexuals
Is the stoning of homosexuals in the Torah to be taken at face value or is there a deeper meaning beyond the scripture itself? When Moshiach comes, will the courts actually mete out such a punishment ...
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1answer
115 views
Source that King/Beis Din would hang couples for being publicly intimate
The title says it all, for the most part, but I remember once hearing that, if it was deemed a common problem, the Beis Din was allowed to round up couples for being publicly intimate, and hang them. (...
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Arba Misos- 1 Mitzvah or 4?
Tosfos on Makos 2a (Kol Hazomemin) brings a Tosefta which says that if you can't give someone their destined Arba Misos (meaning the one their Aveira warranted), you can give them a different one, ...
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1answer
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Why did Hevel suffer?
I've heard many times from Rabbis and Morims that every suffering we have in life is the consequence of something bad we've done. And for babies that suffer at birth and righteous people that seem to ...
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1answer
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Practiced Death Penalty Alternatives
My understanding is
Halacha supports the use of the death penalty in theory but typically not in practice.
The use of imprisonment as punishment is a recent development for Jews.
These two ...
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2answers
117 views
Ben Sorer U'Moreh and Embarrasment
Tosfos in the Gemarah Sota 10b writes that being מלבין את פני חבירו is a sin that one should rather give his life up for. Therefore, in the case of the Ben Sorer U'Moreh, why do we make such a big ...
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3answers
232 views
Why was the kipa a justified way to execute criminals?
The Mishna Sanhedrin 81B brings a form of execution where the convicted person is placed in a tight chamber, fed minimal amounts of food to shrink the stomach, and then fed a lot to cause the stomach ...
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1answer
235 views
Is there no such sin as a wayward daughter? If so, why not?
The mitzvot and sins are not equal in their distribution. Some are only applicable to men, some to women, some to Kohanim, to Kings, etc.
In the case of a wayward (or rebellious) son who is described ...
