Raboyseyee and Ladies,
Revenge 101:
Welcome to Parshas Emor where the RBSO teaches us about zero tolerance for certain crimes. Kill someone and you get the death penalty. Knock out his eye, and you too will lose an eye; an eye for an eye. Ober, let’s stop here: Is that emes? Did the RBSO have people killed for these violations? And what about the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court system? Did they mete out the punishments the heylige Toirah proscribes? Was anyone’s eye ever poked out?
We shall circle back to these questions and a few more but let us begin here. Aside for the opening chapter where the RBSO instructs His kohanim (priests) on suitable marriage partners and to whom they may defile themselves -by way of example, the Toirah demands that the koihen Godol (High Priest) marry a virgin only. Emor is also the parsha which delineates each of our glorious yomim tovim (Jewish holidays) with the exceptions of Chanukah and Purim. Why were these left out? And the answer is poshit: These two holidays did not yet exist; they were legislated much later by our rabbis and sages who declared them because of miracles the RBSO performed for His people in their time of need. The Yiddin were under attack either physically or spiritually. Given the level of open antisemitism on display -it’s mamish open season on Jews around the world- we could use another of those to show the haters just who is in charge. Until then, He did give us Trump 2.0 and whether you like him or don’t – the Ois is a big fan and does not understand how all Jews are not in synch on this issue- as for the Yiddin, he’s been an amazing friend. King Achashveyroish inspired Purim; let’s see what the next four years bring. We could all use another happy holiday. And let us remember the power of the rabbis: They mamish created and enacted holidays -happy one’s- the heylige Toirah does not mention. They had power. Seemingly, the RBSO empowered them and they -at times- used it to interpret the RBSO’s words. Such power will come into play in our parsha as we dig further into the RBSO’s laws and how our sages took it upon themselves to interpret them as they saw fit.
Shoin, let’s get back to the parsha which the heylige Ois titled Revenge 101 and let’s see just how our sages decided to interpret what the RBSO really meant when He said -among other things- that revenge for killing included death mamish, and an eye for an eye. Revenge is a bitch! Is it really?
Towards the very end of the parsha, we come across these incredible pisukim –they are 5 of the last 6- which discuss civil laws: Hurt someone and get hurt. Kill someone and get killed. Let’s read them innaveynig (lets’ read the words as found in the Toirah).
אִ֕ישׁ כִּ֥י יַכֶּ֖ה כׇּל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ אָדָ֑ם מ֖וֹת יוּמָֽת׃
If any party kills any human being, that person shall be put to death.
וּמַכֵּ֥ה נֶֽפֶשׁ־בְּהֵמָ֖ה יְשַׁלְּמֶ֑נָּה נֶ֖פֶשׁ תַּ֥חַת נָֽפֶשׁ׃
One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it: life for life.
וְאִ֕ישׁ כִּֽי־יִתֵּ֥ן מ֖וּם בַּעֲמִית֑וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה כֵּ֖ן יֵעָ֥שֶׂה לּֽוֹ׃
If any party maims another [person]: what was done shall be done in return—
שֶׁ֚בֶר תַּ֣חַת שֶׁ֔בֶר עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת שֵׁ֑ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִתֵּ֥ן מוּם֙ בָּֽאָדָ֔ם כֵּ֖ן יִנָּ֥תֶן בּֽוֹ׃
fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury inflicted on a human being shall be inflicted in return.
וּמַכֵּ֥ה בְהֵמָ֖ה יְשַׁלְּמֶ֑נָּה וּמַכֵּ֥ה אָדָ֖ם יוּמָֽת׃
One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death.
The RBSO is not playing. In rather very straightforward language, He tells us how He feels about violent crimes. Kill and get killed! An eye for any, a tooth for a tooth, yada yada. Ober, we have questions: Ershtens (firstly), hey, is this new? Have we not heard these laws before? Like in not too lang ago? Indeed we have! Let us harken back to Sefer Shmois and Parshas Mishpotim where we read this:
עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת שֵׁ֑ן יָ֚ד תַּ֣חַת יָ֔ד רֶ֖גֶל תַּ֥חַת רָֽגֶל׃
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
And the first question is this: Why did the RBSO decide to repeat an eye for an eye in our parsha? Had the Yiddin already forgotten? As if a second reminder wasn’t enough, we will get yet another over the summer as we read Sefer Devorim (25:11-12) and will come across these words:
כִּֽי־יִנָּצ֨וּ אֲנָשִׁ֤ים יַחְדָּו֙ אִ֣ישׁ וְאָחִ֔יו וְקָֽרְבָה֙ אֵ֣שֶׁת הָֽאֶחָ֔ד לְהַצִּ֥יל אֶת־אִישָׁ֖הּ מִיַּ֣ד מַכֵּ֑הוּ וְשָׁלְחָ֣ה יָדָ֔הּ וְהֶחֱזִ֖יקָה בִּמְבֻשָֽׁיו׃
If two parties are fighting—one man with another—and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from his antagonist and puts out her hand and seizes him by his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.
וְקַצֹּתָ֖ה אֶת־כַּפָּ֑הּ לֹ֥א תָח֖וֹס עֵינֶֽךָ׃
In other words: a hand for a hand! In this case, as you just read, two men were fighting and the wife of one chapped the other -the perpetrator- by his genitals. Admittedly, this is a most unusual case; it’s not very often that the wife will chap even her own husband by his testicles, let alone, the genitals of another man, and this is the third reminder in the heylige Toirah about the laws of revenge.
And the question on the Ois’s mind this week is this: Why taka are these laws repeated? Nu as the Ois’s rebbes’ would answer when asked this very question but only after slapping him silly for daring to question repetition in the heylige Toirah, pshat may be azoy: Each time “eye for an eye” appears, it’s in a different legal context, highlighting different aspects of justice. As well, there must be other logical explanations on why the heylige Toirah would specifically mention the case of the woman coming to her husband’s defense by grabbing the perps genitals, ober the rebbe did not address this issue. A few rebbes -in many different yeshivas and settings- did act this out by chapping the genitals of unsuspecting students; that for another day.
The bottom line: Of course, when a subject is repeated and, in our case, the exact words appear twice, our rabbis sprang into action and found ways to rationalize a second appearance. Back in Mishpotim (Shemois 21:24) the injury was caused during a private fight, a -person-to-person injury. In our parsha, it appears that the RBSO is addressing the issue of broader justice. What about the incident in Sefer Devorim 25? There the RBSO refers to a specific scenario involving a physical altercation between a man and a woman grabbing another man’s private parts -his testicles- emphasizing the seriousness of certain forms of bodily harm and shame. In other words, she was hitting below the belt and causing not just pain, but shame as well. And that is seemingly forbidden no matter how badly you husband is being beaten up.
The bottom line: After many years of constant reinforcement that not one word in the heylige Toirah is extra and nothing is repeated, of course, as I got older, I found out that this simply wasn’t the case. As well, I learned that many important scholars had the same questions. Of-course there are answers and rationales, and among them, we will find these: Says the Chizkuni -and others- that the second appearance in Emor of ‘an eye for an eye’ clarifies that these laws apply to non-Jews as well (as in the blasphemer case, who was the son of an Egyptian). The repetition of an eye for an eye emphasizes universal standards of justice. Nice.
Or we can kler that pshat is azoy: The heylige Toirah often repeats ideas to strengthen moral impact. “An eye for an eye” is a powerful concept of justice — even if in reality, it means monetary compensation rather than literal retribution, its repetition gives it weight and seriousness. The idea of monetary compensation vs the real revenge as determined by our sages, is a whole other topic, ober today the Ois wishes to better understand what the Toirah means when it tells us -in our parsha and in many other places elsewhere – that certain perpetrators deserve and get the death penalty. Did the RBSO mamish kill anyone for violating those laws that bring death as a punishment for the crime? Anyone? Did our Sanhedrin (our court system) have people executed? Despite all the talk about death for certain crimes, did they in fact really execute sinners? If our rabbis decided that eye for an eye is what justice calls for but means money instead, was there ever a case when death was called for and meted out? Ever? Or, was it always about money instead? Are all the death sentences in the heylige Toirah as retribution for sins, but hollow threats? Let’s dig further.
One thing is zicher: The heylige Toirah absolutely mandates the death penalty for certain crimes. The concept of “an eye for an eye” meaning money, applies specifically to bodily injury, ober not to capital offenses. Why the distinction? Bodily injury can be compensated monetarily, ober life cannot. Says the heylige Toirah (Bamidbar 35:31):
“וְלֹא תִקְחוּ כֹפֶר לְנֶפֶשׁ רֹצֵחַ”
“You shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer.” That means: no monetary replacement for murder, death must be exacted. In other words: death is mamish mandated. But we ask again: Was it meted out? Ever? On occasion? Were sinners mamish killed? Stoned? Choked? And other grizzly deaths? Did it happen? How often? Who did it?
Here’s what we know: The heylige Toirah taka mandates death in many cases; grada (so happens) that not all are revenge driven. In fact, there are 36 offenses in the heylige Toirah punishable by death and because you’d like to know if you qualify for any of your past misdeeds -or one’s you are thinking about this very moment- the Ois prepared -off the Rambam’s list (Hilchos Sanhedrin 15) yet another table for your review. See if you made the list, here we go:
| Crime | Verse | Death Penalty |
| 1. Idolatry (serving a foreign god) | Shmois 22:19, Devorim 17:2–5 | Stoning |
| 2. Sacrificing to Molech | Vayikro 20:2 | Stoning |
| 3. Witchcraft / Sorcery | Shmois 22:17 | Stoning |
| 4. Divining / Necromancy | Vayikro 20:27 | Stoning |
| 5. False prophet | Devorim 18:20 | Strangulation |
| 6. Prophecy in God’s name without instruction | Devorim 18:20 | Strangulation |
| 7. Prophesying in name of idolatry | Devorim 13:6 | Stoning |
| 8. Enticing others to idolatry (meisit) | Devorim 13:7–12 | Stoning |
| 9. Leading a city to idolatry (madiach) | Devorim 13:13–19 | Stoning |
| 10. Blasphemy (cursing God) | Vayikro 24:16 | Stoning |
| 11. Desecrating Shabbat | Shmois 31:14–15, Bamidbar 15:32–36 | Stoning |
| 12. Eating chametz on Pesach (some say kareit only) | Shmois 12:15 | Not executed by beis din |
Civil / Authority Offenses:
| 13. Cursing father or mother | Shmois 21:17 | Stoning |
| 14. Striking father or mother | Shmois 21:15 | Death (debated — usually strangulation) |
| 15. Kidnapping (with sale) | Shmois 21:16 | Death (strangulation) |
| 16. Rebellious elder (zaken mamre) | Devorim 17:12 | Strangulation |
| 17. Rebellious son (ben sorer u’moreh) | Devorim 21:18–21 | Stoning |
| 18. Perjuring in capital case (eidim zoimemim) | Devorim 19:16–21 | Punished with same penalty they tried to impose |
And let’s not forget the following Sexual Offenses:
| Crime | Verse | Death Penalty |
| 19. Adultery (man with married woman) | Vayikro 20:10 | Strangulation |
| 20. Adultery with a betrothed na’arah | Devorim 22:23–24 | Stoning |
| 21. Kohen’s daughter commits adultery | Vayikro 21:9 | Burning |
| 22. Incest with mother | Vayikro 20:11 | Burning |
| 23. Incest with father’s wife | Vayikro 20:11 | Stoning |
| 24. Incest with daughter-in-law | Vayikro 20:12 | Burning |
| 25. Incest with father | Vayikro 18:7 | Korase in the Toirah, death in rabbinic tradition |
| 26. Incest with mother-in-law | Vayikro 20:14 | Burning |
| 27. Male homosexual relations | Vayikro 20:13 | Stoning |
| 28. Bestiality (man) | Vayikro 20:15 | Stoning |
| 29. Bestiality (woman) | Vayikro 20:16 | Stoning |
| 30. Rape of a betrothed virgin (na’arah) | Devorim 22:25 | Stoning |
Next up are the Murder/Blood Crimes:
| Crime | Verse | Death Penalty |
| 31. Intentional murder | Shmois 21:12 | Beheading |
| 32. Kohen who serves in Temple while impure | Vayikro 22:9 | Death (by Heaven) |
| 33. Non-Kohen entering Holy of Holies | Bamidbar 18:7 | Death |
| 34. Offering sacrifice outside Temple | Vayikro 17:8–9 | Death (by Heaven or court depending on case) |
| 35. Eating offerings while tamei (impure) | Vayikro 7:20–21 | Death (usually kareit) |
Finally, our last category is the National / Group Crime:
| Crime | Verse | Death Penalty |
| 36. Ir HaNidachas (city led to idolatry) | Devorim 13:16 | Entire city is destroyed by sword |
In all these cases, where death is mandated, the heylige Toirah means death mamish and not monetary fines. Ober we ask again, did these mamish take place? And the emes is this: We only find two cases where the RBSO ordered death. The most famous is the mekoishesh eitzim (the man who gathered wood on Shabbis (Bamidbar 15)). Moishe puts him to death. Also, the megadef (blasphemer), his case mamish in our parsha -the very last posik describes his fate; he was stoned to death, after the RBSO commanded it explicitly.
And the good news? We don’t find any other instances where sinners were ordered to be put to death. Ober, what about all the pisukim ordering the death penalty including instructions in our parsha? And what about all the sexual misdeeds that are to be punished with death? And the answer is azoy: Seemingly our sages (Chazal) had a role to play when distinguishing capital vs. civil law. And the good news is this: In bodily injury cases (limoshol a fight where one man breaks another’s leg), the Heylige Toirah’s harsh language (“eye for eye”) is interpreted by Chazal to mean financial restitution, not mutilation. Ober, in capital cases (murder, adultery, etc.), where the heylige Toirah says “מֹת יוּמָת”, “סָקֹל תִּסְקְלֵם”, etc., Chazal -our Sages- do not reinterpret them to mean money. These are actual capital punishments, carried out by Sanhedrin but only when strict legal conditions were met. When were these strict conditions met? Ever? And the good news for most of you (the writer included) is this: It appears that there are almost zero cases that met the high bar for execution! Exhale and OMG! Is that emes? And the RBSO has us running so scared all our lives? Mamish a relief!
Says the Mishneh (Makkos 1:10) so famously azoy: “A Sanhedrin that executes once in seven years is called destructive. R. Elozor ben Azaryah says once in 70 years. Rebbe Akiva and Rebbe Tarfoin said: If we were in Sanhedrin, no one would ever be executed.” Why? Because the evidentiary standards were so high (two kosher witnesses, warning, admission, etc.), actual executions were rare — but the law remained on the books why? Because that’s what’s written in the heylige Toirah! In plain English, there is a distinction between theory and reality. In theory, sinners are dead men walking, ober in reality, they are very much alive. The same sages who decided that what the RBSO meant when twice He told us about an eye for eye, also decided that for death mamish to be meted out as punishment for capital crimes, conditions needed to be perfect for execution. By conditions, the Ois refers to the very conditions, the very high bar- our Sages established before taking a life. Shoin, let’s review what we now know:
An “Eye for eye” = money, and is never to be taken literally. Ober murder, adultery, Shabbis desecration, and the rest of the offenses listed on the table above = death, not money. That’s in theory. Ober in reality, actual executions were rare. Ober, did the Sanhedrin ever actually execute anyone, or was it all theoretical? Seemingly, there are a few -very few- recorded cases where Chazal say the Sanhedrin did carry out executions, but they were extremely rare. Why? Because the bar for conviction was so high.
According to some, the Ben Sorer U’Moreh (the rebellious son) was killed but says the heylige Gemora (Sanhedrin 71a) differently: “בן סורר ומורה לא היה ולא עתיד להיות”
“There never was a case of a rebellious son, nor will there be.”
In another Gemora (Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 7:2), we read the case of someone who rode a horse on Shabbis. The heylige Gemora records that during Greek times, one person was stoned for this offense. Ober, is riding a horse a capital offense? What about the new Shabbis scooters many are riding around with? Not! He was killed to make an example (hora’as sha’ah). Why were so few executed when the list of 36 was certainly violated by many hundreds if not thousands so many times? Because to execute someone, Toirah law – so did our sages state- requires all of this:
- Two kosher witnesses
- They saw the act together
- They warned the person immediately before
- He acknowledged the warning
- He committed the act immediately after
- No contradictions in testimony
Let’s get real: Two kosher witnesses? Ha! The bottom line: All these conditions made executions virtually impossible unless the sinner was almost suicidal. Oib azoy -if that’s the case- that virtually no one met the criteria for execution, why did the RBSO mandate the death penalty? Was it His and Chazal’s intent to but scare us straight and not to spill blood?
Could very well be and our sages do say this: The threat of execution deterred sin, even if actual cases were rare. They did keep the law on the books not just for punishment, but for moral clarity and deterrence. That being said, the heylige Gemora (Sanhedrin 37b) tells us azoy: “דין ארבע מיתות לא נבטל” — The four death penalties are never abolished. In the absence of Sanhedrin, who never really killed anyone, the RBSO will carry out justice by other means; He certainly has his ways. Too many of them.
The final bottom line: The death penalty was preserved as an expression of divine justice to deter egregious behavior and to uphold the moral clarity of the RBSO’s Toirah law. The RBSO’s mandated death penalties were real, but the rabbinic tradition -our sages- turned them into a deterrent and moral guidepost, not a regular judicial tool. Exhale and a gittin Shabbis!
One last note: Before you resume your chazerish behavior, beware that over our glorious history, certain individuals took the law into their own hands and executed sinners -those they deemed guilty of sexual misconduct- without due process. Remember Shimon and Levi? How about Pinchas? What did he do? He Killed Zimri and Kozbi after observing them publicly engaging in forbidden sexual relations. Was he punished? Not! He was rewarded with the “Covenant of Peace” (Bris Sholom) and elevated to the priesthood. At times, taking the matter into one’s own hands, is safer. Also a sure thing if you chap.
A gittin Shabbis-
The Heylige Oisvorfer Ruv
Yitz Grossman
