Halakhah for Keritot 1:1
שְׁלשִׁים וָשֵׁשׁ כְּרֵתוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה. הַבָּא עַל הָאֵם, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת הָאָב, וְעַל הַכַּלָּה, הַבָּא עַל הַזְּכוּר, וְעַל הַבְּהֵמָה, וְהָאִשָּׁה הַמְבִיאָה אֶת הַבְּהֵמָה עָלֶיהָ, הַבָּא עַל אִשָּׁה וּבִתָּהּ, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ, הַבָּא עַל אֲחוֹתוֹ, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אָבִיו, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אִמּוֹ, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אָחִיו, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אֲחִי אָבִיו, וְעַל הַנִּדָּה, הַמְגַדֵּף, וְהָעוֹבֵד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, וְהַנּוֹתֵן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ, וּבַעַל אוֹב, הַמְחַלֵּל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, וְטָמֵא שֶׁאָכַל אֶת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְהַבָּא לַמִּקְדָּשׁ טָמֵא, הָאוֹכֵל חֵלֶב, וְדָם, נוֹתָר, וּפִגּוּל, הַשּׁוֹחֵט וְהַמַּעֲלֶה בַּחוּץ, הָאוֹכֵל חָמֵץ בְּפֶסַח, וְהָאוֹכֵל וְהָעוֹשֶׂה מְלָאכָה בְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, הַמְפַטֵּם אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶן, וְהַמְפַטֵּם אֶת הַקְּטֹרֶת, וְהַסָּךְ בְּשֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה. הַפֶּסַח וְהַמִּילָה בְּמִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה:
[There are] thirty-six acts for which the Torah [prescribes] <i>Karet</i> [excision at the hands of Heaven. It is a punishment for]: One who has relations with his mother, or with his father's wife, or with his daughter-in-law, or with a man, or with an animal, or a woman who has an animal have relations with her, or one who has relations with a woman and her daughter, or with a married woman, or with his sister, or with his paternal aunt, or with his maternal aunt, or with his wife's sister, or with his brother's wife, or with the wife of his father's brother, or with a <i>Niddah</i> [a woman who has menstruated and is thereby impure]. [Other individuals who are subject to <i>Karet</i> are]: One who blasphemes [curses God], or who worships idols, or who sacrifices his children to <i>Molekh</i> [a type of idolatry wherein one passes his child through fire or between flames],or a necromancer, or one who violates Shabbat, or an impure person who eats consecrated food, one who enters the Temple when impure, or one who eats forbidden fat, or who eats blood, or who eats <i>Notar</i> [a sacrifice that becomes unfit due to being unconsumed past the permitted time], or who eats <i>Piggul</i> [a sacrifice that becomes unfit due to the intention of the officiating priest while offering it, to consume it after its permitted time], or one who slaughters a sacrifice outside [the Temple precincts], or who offers up a sacrifice outside [the Temple precincts], or who eats leavened bread on Pesach, or who eats on Yom Kippur, or who does <i>Melakhah</i> [a constructive activity forbidden on Shabbat and festivals] on Yom Kippur, or one who prepares oil [after the manner of the Temple's anointing oil], or who prepares <i>Ketoret</i> [holy incense offered twice a day on the golden altar inside the Temple], or who anoints [himself] with the anointing oil. Positive commandments [whose neglect warrants <i>Karet</i> are]: The Passover offering, and circumcision.
Sefer HaMitzvot
Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim
On Yom Kippur, its night is the same as its day in all matters; and what are its forbidden things on it: working, eating, drinking, washing, annointing, wearing sandles (leather), intercourse. But one is not guilty of the karet penalty78Karet, כרת, means "extripation" which is a punishment at the hands of heaven mentioned in the Bible. It served as a penalty for numerous sins which were committed deliberately such as idolatry, desecration of the Sabbath, eating leaven on Passover, incest, adultery, and eating some forbidden foods. For such offences, the person need not be given a previous warning as the sin is so basic and severe. The halakhah defines karet as premature death (Sifra, Emor 14:14) and baraita (Mk. 28a; TJ, Bik. 2:1, 64b) state it as "death at the age of fifty". Some amoriam refer to it as death between the ages of fifty and sixty. The Mishna (Ker. 1:1) lists thirty-six transgressions mentioned in the Torah for which karet is punishment. The word karet has also become the standard for many severe violations of the halakhah. Karet has to be for a deliberate act. If the transgression was done inadvertently, only a sin-offering is required. The punishment of karet is divine, therefore God knows if it was deliberate or not and there need not be any witnesses.
There is discussion among the tannaim whether or not the penalty of karet exempts a person from flogging (see footnote 31) which is the penalty for most toraitic law violations where the person is warned. The decision is that one should be flogged and repentence can annul a karet (Mak. 23a-b). Even though a transgressor may be punished by karet, he is still liable for any civil claims that may have arisen from his actions (Ket. 30a).
It was believed that natural death took place after sixty and if one died before that or one's life span was in any way curtailed this was considered "death by the hand of heaven" even though it had no fixed time. There was also discussion regarding the speed of death. Death in one, two, or three days before the age of sixty, or for those committing a transgression after the age of sixty was considered a sign of karet.
The medieval scholars who were very concerned with reward and punishment decided that a death from karet meant the absolute end, the maximal punishment, while ordinary sinners after being punished in Gehinnom, lived again in the world to come, a world not shared by those punished with karet. This was the view of Maimonides while Naḥmanides felt that those who died by karet continued to suffer in the world to come since the soul can never be annihilated and perish. Karet was degradation of the soul and the negation of spiritual pleasures awaiting the souls of the righteous.
Israel Moses Ta-Shma, E. J., v. 10, pp. 788-89. except for working, eating, and drinking.