SYNOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. xix

etc. Punishment with the sword applies to a murderer and to the men of a misled town. If one pressed down a person while he is in water, or in fire, preventing him from coming out, he is guilty, etc. If one bound a person, and he died thereafter of hunger, he is not guilty of a capital crime. If, however, he put him in a sunny place, and he died because of the sun, he is guilty. Ball-players—if one threw a ball with the intention of killing someone, he is to be put to death; if it was unintentional, he is to be exiled, etc. All agree that if one kills a person whose windpipe and larynx (gullet) are already cut, or whose skull is fractured, he is free (for it is considered as if he attacked a dead man). If one strikes a person with a stone or with his fists, and he was diagnosed (by the physicians of the court) to die, but he later improved, etc. Capital punishment does not apply to one who intended to kill an animal and killed a man, or an idolater and killed an Israelite, etc.; but it does apply to one who intended to strike a person on the loins with an article sufficient for this purpose, and he strikes him to death on his heart, etc. A murderer mixed up among others—all of them are free, etc. If it happens that persons sentenced to different kinds of death are so mixed that it is not known who comes under this kind of death and who under another, all of them must be executed with the most lenient form of death. If one committed a crime that deserves two kinds of death, he must be tried for the most rigorous one. Ezekiel xviii must not be taken literally; but "the mountains he eateth not" means that he does not live upon the reward of the meritorious acts done by his parents; "his eyes he lifteth not up to the idols" means that he never walked overbearingly, etc. 222-238

Mishnas VII. to IX. He who receives stripes and returns to the same crime, the court takes him to the kyphos A wooden cage or stocks used for confinement.. He who kills a person not in the presence of witnesses is taken to the kyphos and is fed on scant bread and water. If one steals a kisvah A sacred scroll or document., or one curses his neighbor, invoking God as a "carver," zealous people (like Pinchas) have a right to strike him when caught in the act. What is this punishment if there were no zealous men? Answer to this: it happened that it was read before R. Kahan in a dream, etc. In a case where there is a violation of the Holy Name, the honor of the master must not be considered. "If a priest performs the service while he is defiled," etc. "If a common Israelite served in the Temple," etc., 238-244

CHAPTER X.

Mishnas I. to VI. Choking applies to him who strikes his father or mother, to him who steals a living soul, etc. A son is not guilty of a capital crime unless he wounds his father by striking him. Cursing is in one respect more rigorous than striking, as he is guilty even if he did it after his father’s death. If one steals a person, he is not guilty of a capital crime unless he brings him upon his own premises. There is no difference whether he stole a male or female, a proselyte, a bondsman, or a minor, etc. R. Jehudah says that there is no disgrace for slaves. "Thou shalt not steal," in the third commandment, means human beings. [Lev. xix. 11]: "Ye shall not steal," meaning money. A judge rebelling against the Great Sanhedrin: there were in Jerusalem three courts, etc. In case a judge in the country had a dispute with his colleagues, they came to the first court. If this court were able to decide it traditionally, they rendered their decision; and if not, all of them came to the Great Sanhedrin, which was in the Temple.