Questions tagged [murder]
The prohibition against murder is the 6th of the Ten Commandments. Murder does not include court executions, defensive wars, or wars commanded by G-d.
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The Trolley Problem: Is it better to kill 1 person or let 5 die?
I was recently reading about the Trolley Problem
A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are five people who have been tied to the track by a mad philosopher. Fortunately, you ...
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Esav was coming with 400 men: why then
Why was Esav going toward Yaakov (Gen. 33:1, 32:7) if he had (27:41) planned to wait to kill him until Yitzchak was dead?
(Please cite your source, if any.)
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Can an unintentional murderer leave Ir Miklat for Shalosh Regalim?
We learn in Parshas Masei about a person who unintentionally murders another.
The halacha is that the unintentional murderer is to flee to one of the Arei Miklat (Cities of Refuge), and stay there ...
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Morning After Pill in Halacha
Is the morning-after pill considered an abortion in Halachic terms or does it have another status, and, if the latter, may it be used?
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Is an accidental murderer allowed to stand and fight the Goel HaDam?
As we know, during times when the Sanhedrin is fully operating, an accidental murderer must flee to an Ir Miklat (City of Refuge). If he leaves such a city or does not enter, he is subject to revenge ...
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Would halacha permit bombing Auschwitz?
I know there's a lot of talk about whether Allied forces during World War II could have / should have taken military action directly against the Holocaust. I'm not opening that can of worms here.
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Masada - heroic martyrdom or immoral murder/suicide?
Was the mass coordinated mutual killing at Masada (for lack of a better term) an act of heroic martyrdom or immoral murder and suicide?
While it is unknown for certain what exactly transpired, ...
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Is Mossad Assasination allowed in Torah?
The Torah seems to allow many instances of killing. Genocide is sometimes okay if you give fair warning. So is the execution of a convicted murderer, or even those who break the Sabbath.
It does ...
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What if the Kohen Gadol accidentally kills someone?
An ordinary person who accidentally kills someone has to go to an Ir Miklat (city of refuge) until the Kohen Gadol dies.
But what if it's the Kohen Gadol himself who accidentally kills? He would ...
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Killing Civilians in a defensive war
In the recent Operation Pillar of Defense against Gaza, many Palestinian civillians were killed by Israeli air-strikes (the Palestines claim the number is as high as 158, while according to the IDF ...
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Why do accidental killers sent to arei miklat go free after the Kohen Gadol dies?
When someone kills accidentaly he is sent to live in an ir miklat ("city of refuge") until the Kohen Gadol ("High Priest") dies. This seems like an arbitrary time. What does the Kohen Gadol's death ...
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What if Someone Accidentally Killed Someone in an Ir Miklat (City of Refuge)?
If someone kills a someone else through gross negligence in an Ir Miklat in which the victim and/or his relatives live, must he leave and seek refuge in another Ir Miklat? After all, surely the victim ...
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Killing gentile under threat of death
If someone points a gun at Reuvein's head and tells him, "Kill this Jew or I'll kill you," the halachah is that Reuvein must let himself be killed. What if someone points a gun at Reuvein's head and ...
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Is a doctor obligated to force vaccination?
As per the injunction of "לא תעמוד על דם רעך" - "Stand not [idly] over the blood of thine fellow"(Leviticus 19:16), is a Torah-observant doctor obligated to vaccinate an unvaccinated patient for a ...
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Why did Mordechai not let Bigson & Seresh assasinate the king?
Why did Mordechai report the assassins before they could kill King Achashverosh? What did he have to gain?
Had the king been killed, Esther might have been free to go home. She definitely wouldn't ...
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How could we learn behavior from animals?
The gemarah in Eruvin 100b says that had the Torah not been give we would have learned various behaviors from certain animals, such as modesty from the cat. To me this presupposes that had the Torah ...
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Is abortion of a gentile child of a Jewish father permissible?
If a Jewish man were to father a child with a gentile would they be allowed to consider an abortion or would that be disallowed in the Halachic literature ?
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Is someone killed by force called Kiddush Hashem?
Is someone who was killed for being Jewish without having been given a choice to save himself by transgressing the Torah, called a kodosh?
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Asara Haruge Malchut (Ten Martyrs), why were 10 Rabbis killed?
In Vayigash, Rabenu Bahya (also the Zohar) comments and says that the reason we had Asara Haruge Malchut because the brothers sold Yosef. However, Reuven didn't sell Yosef, so why should the ...
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If a blood avenger somehow gets into a city of refuge and kills the killer, is he subject to the death penalty?
We know that a Goel haDam (blood avenger) has a special allowance to kill the rotzeach who accidentally killed his family member. The accidental rotzeach can avoid this fate by fleeing to an ir miklat,...
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Is the Goel HaDam (Blood Avenger) obligated to pursue blood vengeance?
During times when the Torah is the law of the land, if a Jew commits accidental murder against another Jew, he must flee to a Ir Miklat (City of Refuge) or else be subject to revenge killing by the ...
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Why did Bigtan and Teresh want to kill the king?
I am very puzzled by the whole episode with Bigtan and Teresh (Esther 2:21-23). What exactly made them so mad that they wanted to kill the king? The gemarah (megillah 13b) says they were complaining ...
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Can the accidental killer of a relative kill himself?
If a person kills his relative unintentionally, can he also be considered a goel hadam (blood avenger) for the victim (since the victim is his relative)? In which case, he should have permission to ...
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Going out on Shabbat for Avenging your father's murder?
In the Mishna Berurah on the end of Siman 306 (page 200 of Vol. 3 in the classic editions) he writes:
כתב כנה"ג דללכת חוץ לתחום בשבת לנקום נקמת אביו מרוצחים מותר ותמה עליו המג"א וש"א ...
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Why did Pharaoh only order the murder of boys?
In parashat shemote, Pharaoh explicitly commands the midwives to allow the females to live (וְאִם-בַּת הִוא וָחָיָה). What are the traditional commentaries explaining the order to allow the girls to ...
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What happens if the Kohen Gadol is replaced while someone is in the Ir Miklat?
During the late Second Temple period, the Roman governors would often sell the position of Kohen Gadol to the highest bidder, sometimes even disposing one before serving a whole year.
What if, during ...
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Handing over a murderer to the Goel Hadam?
וְשָׁלְחוּ זִקְנֵי עִירוֹ וְלָקְחוּ אֹתוֹ מִשָּׁם וְנָתְנוּ אֹתוֹ בְּיַד גֹּאֵל הַדָּם וָמֵת.
The elders of his city must take him [the intentional murderer] and hand him over to the blood avenger, ...
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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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Can one be liable for death by delivering upsetting news?
In Parshas Chayei Sarah (23:2), Rashi quotes Bereishis Rabbah (58:5) that the reason the Parsha of Sarah's death is juxtaposed to Akeidas Yitzchak is:
לספוד לשרה ולבכתה: ונסמכה מיתת שרה לעקידת ...
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"A life for a life": execution or reparations
The Torah states (Ex. 21:23) that if two people are fighting and accidentally kill an innocent bystander (such as a woman), "you shall give a life for a life."
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 79a-b) records a ...
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Why don't we rely on Anan Sahadi for murder cases?
The Rambam writes in his Sefer HaMitzvos Lavim #290:
"Even if A pursues B with intent to kill, and B takes refuge in a house, and the pursuer follows him, and we enter after them and find B in ...
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Does demolition of terrorists' homes have any basis in Judaism?
Israel is currently implementing a policy of demolishing the homes of terrorists, even after they have been 'eliminated', as a deterrent to others.
Is this kind of action OK, according to halacha + ...
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What's with the 5th rib killing?
2 Sam. 20:10:
וַעֲמָשָׂא לֹא נִשְׁמַר בַּחֶרֶב אֲשֶׁר בְּיַד יוֹאָב וַיַּכֵּהוּ בָהּ אֶל הַחֹמֶשׁ וַיִּשְׁפֹּךְ מֵעָיו אַרְצָה וְלֹא שָׁנָה לוֹ וַיָּמֹת
M'tzudos says this means he stabbed him in ...
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Moshe and the Egyptian - Justifiable Homicide?
Shemot Chapter 2 has the incident of Moshe slaying the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew slave. He "looks this way and that", kills him, and buries him in the sand. After he realizes "the matter ...
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Why did Pharaoh try to kill Moshe?
Moshe Rabbeinu was raised in Pharaoh's house. Yet when Dasan and Aviram claimed that Moshe killed an Egyptian taskmaster, Pharaoh tried to kill him (Shemot 2:13-15).
Why would an all powerful tyrant ...
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What is an overview of Judaism's arguments against the "unconscious violinist" analogy used to support abortion in the case of rape?
I am looking for the response of any denomination that is against abortion in the case of rape that has also responded to the scenario below or something similar to it.
"A Defense of Abortion" (...
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Understanding the reasoning for "be killed rather than kill"
Sanhedrin 74a teaches us the source for how we know a person should be killed rather than kill:
סברא הוא [...] מי יימר דדמא דידך סומק טפי דילמא דמא דהוא גברא סומק טפי
It's based on logical reasoning (...
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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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"Praiseworthy is he who will clutch and dash your infants against the rock"?
I do not understand the last lines of psalm 137 ("By the rivers of Babylon"/"Al naharos bovel," the psalm recited before Birkat Ha-Mazon on weekdays. [It includes the famous lines &...
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If a king kills accidentally does he go into exile?
The mishna in makkos teaches that even someone who the entire Jewish people have a need for such as Yoav ben Tzrurya would have to go into exile (to a city of refuge) if he killed accidentally. I ...
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Can I defend my animals with lethal force?
We know that it is permitted, in self-defense, to kill one who is trying to kill you, and I have heard that this applies to other people too (I see someone trying to kill someone else and I intervene)....
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Does one sit shiva for someone he killed?
I understand sitting shiva to be an expression of bereavement. If I (hypothetically) was the victim of constant abuse which lasted for years and I ultimately, in an act of self defense, had to kill my ...
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May an accidental murderer choose to leave the city of refuge?
I understand from the Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 410, that a person who kills accidentally has a mitzvah to go to a city of refuge. I would like to know if that person is allowed to leave the city of ...
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Homosexuality is "worse than murder"?
A sign at a recent rally protesting New York's 2011 Marriage Equality Act reads
Judaism considers male homosexuality a worse sin than murder
I imagine that this is a minority opinion, but does it ...
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Why did God need to command the Jews not to kill?
There is a principle 'svara lamah li krah i.e. if a certain idea is logical and self evident to the average healthy mind, the Torah does not need to teach that idea. Additionally, what seems to be ...
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What is the law for a Goel Hadam (Avenger of Blood) outside of the Land of Israel?
The halacha is you can only build a city of refuge in Israel. What if someone killed by accident outside of Israel. Can the relative of the guy who was killed go after and try to kill the murderer who ...
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Accidental Murder
A person who kills another person by accident must run to a city of refuge. While he's running, relatives of the person he killed may kill him.
Why are the relatives allowed to kill in such a case? ...
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Was Yoav considered a murderer regarding Uriah the Hittite?
In Samuel I chapter 11, David commands Yo'av to place Uriah the Hittite in the middle of a battle so that, inevitably, the enemy would kill him while he is unprotected. Yo'av carries out the command.
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Getting in the way of a zealot
When Pinchas slew Cozbi and Zimri, he was acting in accordance to a lesser known law, the law of the zealot, that says that if one sees certain sins being performed (I don't know what qualifies) he is ...
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Origin of "May God Avenge His Blood" (הי"ד)
What is the origin (i.e earliest usages) of appending הי"ד ("May God Avenge His Blood") after the name of a murder victim.
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