Bioethics I ~ Basic terms

(5) How do we press the witnesses in a capital case? We bring them in [to the court's chambers] and press them: "Perhaps what you say [isn't eyewitness testimony] is but your own assessment, or from rumors, or your witnessing an actual witness testify, or your reporting what a trustworthy said. Or perhaps you were unaware that by the end we'd interrogate you, with examination and inquiry. Know that capital cases are not like monetary ones. In monetary cases, [a false witness] can return the money and achieve atonement. But in capital cases, the blood of [the victim [and all his future offspring hang upon you until the end of time. For thus we find in regard to Cain, who killed his brother, "The bloods of your brother scream out!" (Genesis 4:10) - the verse does not say blood of your brother, but bloods of your brother, because it was his blood and also the blood of his future offspring [screaming out]! [Another explanation of the verse: for his blood was splattered over the trees and rocks [there was more than one pool of blood]. [The judges' speech continues] "It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world." And also, to promote peace among the creations, that no man would say to his friend, "My ancestors are greater than yours." And also, so that heretics will not say, "there are many rulers up in Heaven." And also, to express the grandeur of The Holy One [blessed be He]: For a man strikes many coins from the same die, and all the coins are alike. But the King, the King of Kings, The Holy One [blessed be He] strikes every man from the die of the First Man, and yet no man is quite like his friend. Therefore, every person must say, “For my sake ‎the world was created.”‎ [The judges' speech continues:] "Maybe you [the witnesses] will now say, 'What do we need this, and all this anxiety for [let's not come forward even with true testimony]!' But Scripture has already spoken: "If he be a witness - having seen or known - if he does not express it, he shall bear his sin." (Lev. 5:1) Maybe you will now say, 'What do we need this, to be responsible for another man's death?' But Scripture has already spoken: "When the wicked are destroyed there is rejoicing." (Prov. 11:10)"

(1) If anyone killed another with his own hand, as when he struck him down with a sword or a deadly rock, strangled him to death or burned him alive, he must be executed by the court, because at any rate he murdered a man by himself.

(2) On the other hand, if a man hired a murderer to kill somebody, or sent servants to kill him, or tied him up and put him in front of a lion or similar beast and it killed him, and also if an individual attempted suicide, each of these is guilty of shedding blood and bears the crime of murder; he deserves to die by an act of God, but is not executed by the court.

(3) How do we know that to be the law? It is written : "Whoever sheds human blood, by human hands shall his own blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6). This refers to one who commits murder himself and not through an agent. "I will require your lifeblood" (9:5) refers to suicide. "I will require it of any beast" refers to one who puts a man in front of a beast to devour him. "Of man I will require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man" (9:5) refers to one who hires others to kill his fellow man. The verb require is explicitly iterated in the three cases to show that the verdict is left with God.

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(6) Whether a man killed an adult or an infant of one day, male or female, he must be executed if he committed deliberate murder, or exiled if he killed unwittingly. This applies [to a fetus] whose months were complete. But, if he was born with less than nine months he is compared to a natural abortion until his 30th day of life, and one is not killed in the fetus's behalf.

(7) Whether a man killed a healthy individual or a sick man on the verge of death, or even a dying person, he must be executed. But if he was on the verge of death due to physical punishment by the courts, one who kills him is not killed by the courts.

(10) Whether a man killed a Jew or a Canaanite slave, he must be executed on his account; if he killed him unwittingly, he must go into exile.

(6) A human does not impurify [others] until his life leaves him. And even someone dismembered or terminally ill, obligates in or exempts from levirate marriage, and qualifies or disqualifies one from eating Terumah [a portion of a crop given to a priest which becomes holy upon separation, and can only be consumed by priests or their household]. And so too domestic or wild animals do not impurify until their lives leave them. If their heads were cut off, even if they are convulsing, they impurify - like the tail of a lizard which convulses [after being cut off].