Sanhedrin 79-85 - Issue #73
30 Sivan - 6 Tamuz 5755 / 28 June - 4 July 1995

---

This publication is also available in the following formats: Explanation of these symbols

---

A Different Murder Mystery

The Cases: A man intends to kill Reuven with a stone and the stone kills Shimon instead.

A man sees Reuven and Shimon standing together and throws a stone with an intention to kill either of them.

A man sees a man who he believes is Reuven and throws a stone to kill him because he wants to kill Reuven and the victim turns out to be Shimon.

The Dispute: In all of these cases the majority opinion of the Sages is that he is guilty of murder and liable for capital punishment because he had an intention to murder. Rabbi Shimon, however, deduces from a Torah passage that he is only liable for capital punishment when he explicitly declares that he intends to kill a specific victim and does so. He therefore rules that in all three cases there will be no death penalty for murder.

The Problem: The Rambam (Laws of Murder and Life Preservation 4:1) rules that if a man indiscriminately throws a stone into a crowd of people and kills one of them he does not receive the death penalty. Is the Rambam ruling like the Sages or like Rabbi Shimon? If he follows the Sages' view it would seem that the stone thrower should be guilty even in such a case because he intended murder. If he follows Rabbi Shimon's view the Rambam should have cited the three cases listed above as well to let us know that even in such cases he is exonerated.

The Resolution: Rabbi Yossef Caro, in his "Kessef Mishneh" commentary, explains that the Rambam follows the majority opinion of the Sages and the stone thrower will therefore be guilty in all of the above three cases. In the particular situation described by the Rambam he is exonerated not because of a lack of intention to murder but because of a technical inability to issue the warning which must precede any crime in order for it to be punishable by a human court. This warning must be specific to the act he is about to commit and this is lacking when someone throws a stone indiscriminately.

---

How to Correct a Parent

If someone sees his father transgressing a Torah commandment he should not say to him: "Father, you have transgressed the words of the Torah!" He should rather say: "Father, this is what it says in the Torah."

The first approach is ruled out because it embarrasses the father, whose honor he is obliged to respect. In regard to the proper approach there are two opinions as to how it is applied:

Statement: Question: 
"Father, this is what it "Father, this is what it says in the Torah???" 
says in the Torah." By asking rather than reprimanding he avoids embarrassing 
 his father. - Rambam 
By being reminded that The same caution in how to address a father applies to a 
there is such a passage the situation in which he has made an error in citing a Torah 
father will realize the source. The son must avoid saying "Father, don't say it 
practical application to that way" in order to avoid embarrassing him. He must 
his situation. - Rashi use the indirect form, either as a statement (Rashi) or 
 as a question (Rambam) 

---

General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
Production Design: Lev Seltzer
HTML Design: Eli Ballon, Michael Treblow

---

© 1995 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission, and then send us a sample issue.

---

This publication is available via E-Mail

---

Ohr Somayach Institutions is an international network of Yeshivot and outreach centers, with branches in North America, Europe, South Africa and South America. The Central Campus in Jerusalem provides a full range of educational services for over 685 full-time students.

The Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE) of Ohr Somayach offers summer and winter programs in Israel that attract hundreds of university students from around the world for 3 to 8 weeks of study and touring.

Ohr Somayach's Web site is hosted by TeamGenesis

---

Copyright © 1995 Ohr Somayach International. Send us feedback.
Dedication opportunities are available for Weekly Daf. Please contact us for details.