Tuesday 3 March 2015

Ketubot 30: Transgressing positive/negative mitzvot in different contexts

So what does it mean to be prohibited from having intercourse with certain women? The rabbis go through a number of the prohibitions noted in our last mishna, including a man who rapes a first generation Edomite or Egpytian, a High Priest who rapes a non-virgin, a man who rapes a menstruating woman, one who rapes his sister, and others.

The rabbis consider the differences between transgressing positive mitzvot and transgressing negative mitzvot, which are punished more severely. What if the act of rape transgresses a negative mitzva but upholds a positive mitzvah?

In each of the cases provided, the rabbis note whether or not the woman is fit for the rapist, whether or not they become betrothed through the act of intercourse, whether there is a fine for the transgression in a addition to a fine for damages or humiliation, and more.

Journeying down a path slightly off the main road, the rabbis consider the argument about karet, death at the hand of heaven, vs. capital punishment, death at the hand of man. Verses from Exodus 21:23 and Genesis 42:38 help us to understand each concept. Since we know that fines are not honoured if they accompany capital punishment, do we extrapolate this to the payment of fines in other circumstances? Perhaps these verses refer to what is controlled by G-d and what is controlled by man. The rabbis describe tzinim pachim, cold and heat, which are argued to exist at the hand of Heaven and alternatively at the hand of man.

We learn that capital punishment was abolished after the destruction of the Temple. However, a note teaches us that four forms of execution had existed under the authority of 23 judges (as the Sanhedrin was also destroyed). They were stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation. The rabbis explain that the four types of execution exist but in different forms. The rabbis wonder whether those punished with a karet were also subject to fines.
  • Execution by stoning becomes either falls from the roof or being trampled by a beast. Stoning involves being pushed off a height and then stoned, and so these are considered connected. That is similar to stoning, which involves being pushed off an elevated place and then stoned.. 
  • Execution by burning becomes being bitten by a snake, which also stings
  • Execution by decapitation becomes either being given to the rulers of the land to be killed by sword or being attacked and killed by bandits.
  • Execution by strangulation becomes either being drowned in a river or dying of diphtheria.
The rabbis compare these transgressions to that of wrongfully and intentionally eating teruma. What if he was forced to eat teruma? Wrongfully eating teruma is punishable by death. What does it mean, "eating"? At what point is food actually acquired? The rabbis note that food is acquired once it cannot be retrieved. But at what point does it result in karet? The food must be swallowed.

The Talmud never ceases to amaze me with its attention to detail while analyzing vastly broad notions.

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