Makos Daf 23 - Administering The Lashes
Summary
- The shiur on Masechet Makkot 23 centers on the Mishnah’s procedural details for administering lashes, the Gemara’s four teachings cited by Rav Sheshet in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, specifications of the whip and how it accommodates different people, who administers the blows and how, and the roles of the three judges during the lashes. It presents exemptions that terminate the process mid-course, explores the status of chayavei keritut who receive lashes and whether they are thereby exempt from karet, and records related aggadic teachings on the magnitude of reward for mitzvot and for refraining from sin. It rules that we follow Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel that chayavei keritut she-laku are exempt from their karet, and addresses proofs, objections, and how earthly rulings align with the upper court through derashot. It also notes the liturgical linkage of Vehu Rachum at Ma’ariv to the lashes, diverse reasons for saying or omitting it on Shabbat, and the closing note that the famed statement of 613 mitzvot appears at the very end of the daf.
- The Mishnah (end of 22b) states that his hands are tied to a post, the chazzan ha-knesset seizes his garments until his chest is exposed, and a stone stands behind him as the chazzan’s platform. The whip is a doubled calf-skin strip with two shorter donkey-skin straps alongside; its handle is a tefach, its width is a tefach, and its head reaches the offender’s belly; one-third of the blows are in front and two-thirds behind. He is struck neither standing nor sitting but leaning, derived from “vehipilo ha-shofet,” and the striker hits with one hand with full force. The reader recites the admonition verses, repeats as needed, includes “ושמרתם את דברי הברית הזאת,” concludes with “והוא רחום יכפר עון ולא ישחית והרבה להשיב אפו ולא יעיר כל חמתו,” and returns to the beginning if the lashes outlast the reading.
- The Tur (Orach Chaim 237) writes that Vehu Rachum opens Ma’ariv because people customarily received lashes at night for atonement and the Mishnah’s recitation aligns with that, and notes that saying it three times matches the 39 lashes by its thirteen words (citing Sefer HaPardes of Rashi; Beit Yosef brings Kol Bo that evening requires atonement after a day of sin). The Tur adds a reason that Shacharit and Minchah parallel the Tamid for kapparah whereas Ma’ariv lacks a Tamid, so “Vehu Rachum yichaper avon” supplies kapparah (Levush records this). Regarding Shabbat, Tur (Orach Chaim 267) records divergent minhagim: Sefard says it, Ashkenaz does not; the lash-based reason explains omission on Shabbat since lashes are not given, while the Tamid-based reason would sustain saying it on Shabbat; the Mateh Moshe, al derech ha-sod, ties its weekday recitation to the three officers of Gehinnom—Mashchit, Af, Cheimah—and omits it on Shabbat because the wicked rest; Kol Bo offers that it is a techinah, and one should not request personal needs on Shabbat lest it cause sadness.
- Rav Sheshet states that the lash is from calf-skin by semichut “arba’im yakkenu” to “lo tachsom shor be-disho.” He states that a yevamah who fell before a *mukeh shechin* is not muzzled from objecting by semichut “lo tachsom shor be-disho” to “ki yeshvu achim yachdav.” He states that one who degrades the mo’adot (working on Chol HaMoed) is as if serving idolatry from “elohei maseicha lo ta’aseh lach” semuch to “et chag ha-matzot tishmor,” reading “shevat yamim” as guarding against prohibited labor. He states that a speaker or receiver of *lashon hara*, and one who accepts *edut sheker*, is fit to be thrown to the dogs from “besar tereifah la-kelev tashlichun oto” adjacent to “lo tisa shema shav” and “al tashet yadcha im rasha lihyot ed chamas.”
- A baraita identifies the side-straps as donkey-skin, and a Galilean darshan before Rav Chisda ties donkey-skin to “yeda shor konehu vechamor avus be’alav; Yisrael lo yada,” so “let the one who recognizes his master’s trough exact from the one who does not.” Abaye infers that each person receives a strap adjusted “according to his measure” so the head reaches his belly, whether tightening or loosening. The handle is a tefach and the width a tefach.
- One-third of the lashes are delivered in front and two-thirds behind, derived from “vehipilo ha-shofet vehikahu lefanav kedei rish’ato be-mispar,” yielding one rish’ah in front and two behind. He is struck while leaning from “vehipilo ha-shofet.” Rav Chisda in the name of Rabbi Yochanan derives that the strap is doubled from “vehipilo,” read as “vechipilo,” and the term choice (instead of “veyitehu”) teaches both leaning and doubling.
- A baraita instructs that the court appoints lashers who are weak in strength and abundant in understanding, while Rabbi Yehuda allows even those weak in understanding but strong in strength. Rava supports Rabbi Yehuda from “lo yosif pen yosif,” arguing the verse warns because the striker may lack understanding; the Rabbis answer that even the diligent require exhortation. Another baraita states that he raises the whip with both hands but strikes with one hand so the blow comes with maximal force.
- A baraita states that the greatest of the *dayanim* reads, the second counts, and the third orders “hakeihu.” When many lashes are assessed, the reader elongates; when few, he shortens, since the mitzvah is to calibrate reading to the lashes, and if not, he returns to the beginning of the verse.
- If the offender soils himself from shame during the process, he is exempt going forward; Rabbi Yehuda holds that a man is exempt only if he defecates while a woman is exempt even if she urinates; Chachamim hold both are exempt for either. Shmuel rules that once he is tied and he runs from *Beit Din*, he is exempt. If the strap snaps on the second raising he is exempt, but if it snaps on the first he is not exempt, since in Shmuel’s case flight itself is a humiliation, whereas a snapped strap before any humiliation creates no atonement. If assessment shows that the next blow will cause soiling, he is exempt immediately; if assessment shows it will occur only after leaving *Beit Din*, they proceed; if he soiled himself before any striking, they proceed, as “ve-hikkahu ve-nikla” teaches that the humiliation counts only post-striking.
- The Mishnah states “kol chayavei keritut she-laku niftaru yedei keritatam,” proven by “ve-nikla achicha le’einecha—keshe-lakah harei hu ke-achicha.” The Rishonim note a dispute: the Rambam (Peirush HaMishnayot) requires teshuvah in addition to lashes, while the Ba’al HaMaor holds lashes alone atone even without teshuvah. Rabbi Yosef Engel observes that calling him “achicha” indicates restoration to the community, i.e., removal of karet.
- Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel says that if one aveirah costs a life, then certainly one mitzvah grants a life, consistent with middah tovah being more abundant than punishment. Rabbi Shimon derives directly from “venichretu ha-nefashot ha-osot” and “asher ya’aseh otam ha-adam ve-chai bahem,” and adds that one who sits and refrains from sin receives reward like one who performs a mitzvah. Rabbi Shimon beRabbi argues by kal vachomer: if refraining from blood—repulsive to a person—earns reward, then refraining from theft and arayot—desired by a person—earns reward for him and his descendants to the end of all generations; the Maharsha answers the kal vachomer by invoking sources that theft entails life-risk and severe stringency. Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: “ratzah HaKadosh Baruch Hu lezakot et Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u-mitzvot, shene’emar Hashem chafetz lema’an tzidko yagdil Torah ve-ya’adir.”
- Rabbi Yochanan states that colleagues dispute Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel, and Rav Ada bar Ahava cites the Mishnah in Megillah (“ein bein Shabbat le-Yom HaKippurim ella she-zeh zedono bidei adam ve-zeh zedono be-karet”) as proof; Rav Nachman answers that it follows Rabbi Yitzchak that there are no lashes for chayavei keritut, while alternatively it can be read “zeh ikkar zedono bidei adam ve-zeh ikkar zedono bidei shamayim.” Rav Ada bar Ahava said in the name of Rav that the halacha follows Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel that lashes exempt from karet. Rav Yosef asks who ascended to Heaven to report this, and Abaye answers from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s teaching that three rulings of the earthly court received agreement from the upper court, concluding that we rely on derashot of pesukim to know Heavenly assent here as well.
- The daf concludes with the renowned ma’amar Chazal that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah, a teaching not explicit in Chumash but recorded here near the end of Masechet Makkot.
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