Mishnah
Mishnah

Halakhah for Makkot 3:5

הַקּוֹרֵחַ קָרְחָה בְרֹאשׁוֹ, וְהַמַּקִּיף פְּאַת רֹאשׁוֹ, וְהַמַּשְׁחִית פְּאַת זְקָנוֹ, וְהַשּׂוֹרֵט שְׂרִיטָה אַחַת עַל הַמֵּת, חַיָּב. שָׂרַט שְׂרִיטָה אַחַת עַל חֲמִשָּׁה מֵתִים אוֹ חָמֵשׁ שְׂרִיטוֹת עַל מֵת אֶחָד, חַיָּב עַל כָּל אַחַת וְאֶחָת. עַל הָרֹאשׁ, שְׁתַּיִם, אַחַת מִכָּאן וְאַחַת מִכָּאן. עַל הַזָּקָן, שְׁתַּיִם מִכָּאן וּשְׁתַּיִם מִכָּאן וְאַחַת מִלְּמָטָּה. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, אִם נְטָלוֹ כֻלּוֹ כְאַחַת, אֵינוֹ חַיָּב אֶלָּא אֶחָת. וְאֵינוֹ חַיָּב עַד שֶׁיִּטְּלֶנּוּ בְתָעַר. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, אֲפִלּוּ לִקְּטוֹ בְמַלְקֵט אוֹ בִרְהִיטְנִי, חַיָּב:

One who makes a bald spot on his head, one who rounds off the corners of his head, one who destroys the corners of his beard, and one who makes one laceration (in his flesh) for a dead person are liable to stripes. [These are adduced in our Mishnah, for there is liability for each bald spot, each cutting, and each corner, as opposed to eating forbidden fats one piece after the other. But other (transgressions of) negative commandments alone, where there is no novelty, are not adduced. ("a bald spot":) for a dead person, viz. (Deuteronomy 14:1): "And do not make baldness between your eyes for the dead." And even though in respect to Cohanim (Leviticus 21:5), it is not written "for the dead," this is derived by identity: "baldness" - "baldness" — Just as with an Israelite, for the dead, so with Cohanim, for the dead. And the size of "baldness" is as a garis ( a bean). ("one who rounds off the corners of his head":) aligning the hair of one's temples with that behind his ears and that of his forehead. Even for cutting with scissors, where there is no "destruction," one is liable for the corners of the head. For "destruction" (hashchathah) is written only re the beard, and obtains only with a razor. But re the corners of the head, "rounding off" (hakafah) is written; he is liable for any manner of rounding off.] If one makes one laceration for five dead persons or five lacerations for one dead person, he is liable for each one individually, [it being written (Leviticus 19:28): "And a laceration for a (dead) person you shall not make," implying liability for each laceration and for each person, even if there were only one warning and all five lacerations were made at the same time.] For (rounding off the corners of) the head, he is liable (to stripes) twice, once for one side [the right], once for the other [the left]. For (destroying the corners of) the beard, (he is liable to stripes) twice for one side, twice for the other, and once for the bottom. [the juncture of the chin and the bone: one to the right of the chin, one to the left, and the beard-point in the middle —- three; and the temple junctures on either side — five. The upper cheekbone attached to the temples, and the lower cheekbone on the right; and the upper and lower cheekbone on the left — two on one side, two on the other, and the point of the beard, from which the hair issues like an ear (of corn, shibboleth, for which reason it is called "the shibboleth of the beard") — five.] R. Eliezer says: If he takes it off all at once, he is liable (to stripes) only once. [For since it is only one negative commandment, it is as if he eats two olive-sizes of forbidden fats at one warning.] And he is not liable unless he shaves it with a razor. [This refers to the corners of the beard, in respect to which "shaving" and "destruction" are written.] R. Eliezer says: Even if he took it off with pinchers or with a plane he is liable.

Sefer HaChinukh

To not destroy the corner of the beard: To not destroy the corner of the beard, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:27), "and you shall not destroy the corner of your beard." And there are five corners to the beard, and there is a [separate] liability for lashes for each one, even if he removed them all at once and with one warning. And these are them: the upper and lower jaw on the right; the upper and lower on the left - behold, that is four - and the chin of the beard, and that is the place of connection of the jaws below, which is called menton in the vernacular - behold, that is five. And the language of the Mishnah (Mishnah Makkot 3:5) is "For the beard, five: two from here and two from there and one at their bottom." And the transcriber wrote in the name of Rambam, may his memory be blessed, (on Sefer HaMitzvot LaRambam, Mitzvot Lo Taase 44), "And the prevention came about this with these words, 'and you shall not destroy the corner of your beard,' and it did not say, 'and you shall not destroy your beard' - even though it is all called the beard. It wanted to say with this that you should not shave even one corner from the whole of the beard. And we administer one [set of] lashes for each one. And even if he shaved all of them at one time, he is liable five [sets of] lashes for it."
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