Ce sont ceux qui sont exilés: celui qui en tue un autre sans le savoir (par exemple): Si l'on roulait avec une ma'agilah [une pierre ronde lisse roulée sur de la chaux ou du plâtre sur le toit pour égaliser les fissures], et elle est tombée sur quelqu'un et l'a tué; ou s'il laissait tomber une cruche, et elle est tombée sur quelqu'un et l'a tué; ou s'il descendait une échelle et est tombé sur quelqu'un et l'a tué—il est exilé. Mais s'il tirait une ma'agilah, et qu'elle tombait sur quelqu'un et le tuait; ou s'il tirait une cruche, et la corde s'est cassée, et elle (la cruche) est tombée sur quelqu'un et l'a tué; ou s'il grimpait sur une échelle et est tombé sur quelqu'un et l'a tué—il n'est pas exilé. C'est la règle: chaque fois que (quelqu'un est tué) par son action descendante, il est exilé; pas par son action descendante, il n'est pas exilé, [il est écrit (Nombres 35:23): "… et il le fait tomber sur lui"—ce doit être par voie de «chute». "Chaque fois que" ("kol") en vient à inclure même un mouvement vers le bas pour le plaisir d'un mouvement vers le haut.] Si la lame glisse de son manche et tue—Rebbi dit: Il n'est pas exilé; les sages disent: Il est exilé. S'il glisse du bois qu'il coupe, Rebbi dit: Il est exilé; les sages disent: Il n'est pas exilé. [Rebbi soutient que le "bois" dans (Deutéronome 19: 5): "… et la lame glisse du bois" se réfère au bois qui est coupé, et non au manche. Et les rabbins soutiennent que "le bois" est le manche. La halakha est conforme aux sages. Car (la lame qui glisse du) bois qui est coupé est "la puissance de sa puissance", pour laquelle on n'est pas exilé.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
אלו הן הגולין. היה מעגל במעגילה – a smooth round stone that we roll on top of the plaster or clay that is at the tope to smooth out the fissures/cracks.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
Introduction
The second chapter of Makkoth discusses the laws regarding accidental killing. These laws are discussed extensively in Numbers 35:9-28, 32 and Deuteronomy 19:1-13. According to these passages, if a person killed another person by accident the victim’s relative could exact blood vengeance upon the accidental killer. If the accidental killer wanted to avoid being killed by the blood avenger he would run to one of the cities of refuge that were to be established when the Land of Israel was conquered. The accidental killer would have to stay in this city until the death of the High Priest at which point he could return to his former city and the blood avenger would be forbidden from killing him.
The mishnah which we will learn today defines what killing is considered accidental such that it allows a killer to escape to a city of refuge.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
היה משלשל בחבית – from above to below
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
The following go into banishment: one who kills in error. If [for instance] while he was pushing a roller [on the roof] and it fell down and killed somebody; If while he was lowering a cask it fell down and killed somebody; If while coming down a ladder he fell on somebody and killed him, he goes into banishment. But, if while he was pulling up the roller it fell back and killed somebody; If while he was raising a cask and the rope snapped and the cask fell and killed somebody; If while going up a ladder he fell down and killed somebody, he does not go into banishment. (1) This is the general principle: [whenever the death was caused] in the course of a downward movement, he goes into banishment, but [if it was caused] not in the course of a downward movement, he does not go into banishment. This entire section illustrates the principle that an accidental death which will force the killer to go into exile is a case where a person is lowering a heavy object or he himself is going down a ladder and the object or the person slips and accidentally kills someone. If however, he was bringing something up or going up a ladder and the object or he fell downward he is not obligated to go into exile. The difference between the two is that in the first case the likelihood of injuring someone below is relatively high and he therefore should have been more cautious. In the second case, when he is bringing something up, the likelihood that it will fall below and cause injury is unlikely. Therefore he does not need to go into exile. This section illustrates an important difference in the Rabbinic understanding of exile from the Biblical understanding of exile. In the Bible the accidental killer’s fleeing to the refuge city is to his own advantage. If he does not the blood avenger will kill him. Exile is not a punishment for a crime or for negligence but legal protection offered to an accidental killer. In the Rabbinic legal system exile is a punishment for negligence. This is probably partly due to the fact that blood vengeance was not accepted in their society. The Rabbis understand exile as a punishment for negligence. Therefore if the killing was totally unanticipated, he need not go to the city of exile.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
אבל אם היה מושך במעגילה – from below to above
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
If the iron slipped from its heft and killed [somebody]: Rabbi says, “He does not go into banishment.” And the Sages say: “He goes into banishment.” If it flew from the log being split: Rabbi says, “He goes into banishment.” And the Sages say: “He does not go into banishment.” Deuteronomy 19:5 brings up an example of accidental killing whereby a man goes into the forest with an ax and the “ax flies off the handle and strikes another so that he dies”. This phrase “ax flies off the handle” is read in two different ways. The Sages read the verse as we have translated it, that the instrument which kills is the metal part of the ax which flies off its handle. According to Rabbi (Judah the Prince) in this situation the person is not liable for exile. He reads the verse as if it states that the ax causes a chip to fly off from the tree and the chip kills someone else. [Rabbi would translate the word handle as “tree”, and they are both indeed the same word.] According to the Sages, in this situation he is not liable for exile.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
כל שבדרך ירידתו גולה – As it is written: (Numbers 35:23): “or inadvertently dropped upon him/ויפל עליו [any deadly object of stone, and death resulted – though he was not an enemy of his and did not seek his harm],” until it would be through falling, [and the word] "כל" includes even descending which is for the need of ascending.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
נשמט הברזל מקתו – from the sleeve that it is fastened to
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
רבי אומר: אינו גולה – Rabbi (Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi) holds that if the iron (axe) chipped off the wood – that is, which was to be split (and the chip struck a person dead – see Tosefta Makkot, Chapter 2, Halakha 6), and not the wood handle which it is fastened to. But the Rabbis “from the wood” – from the wood handle to which it is fastened. And the Halakha is according to the Sages, for the wood that was to be split is an indirect action and via an indirect action, one is not exiled.
