Sua alça [isto é, a alça à qual a tanga está presa] é um comprimento de mão [longo], e sua largura (a da tanga da panturrilha) é uma largura de mão e sua ponta (a da tanga) atinge seu umbigo. [Por esse motivo, deve haver um orifício na alça no qual o cordão possa alongar ou encurtar a correia conforme necessário; porque alguém é ferido apenas por uma tanga cuja ponta atinge o umbigo.] E ele é ferido, um terço na frente e dois terços atrás, [sendo escrito (Deuteronômio 25: 2): "E ele o ferirá diante dele. segundo a sua maldade. " "Antes dele", de acordo com uma maldade (isto é, um terço) e atrás dele, um terço em um ombro e um terço no outro.] E ele não o fere nem em pé nem sentado, mas se inclina, sendo escrito (Ibidem): "Então o juiz o curvará". E aquele que fere o faz com uma mão [(mas quando ele levanta a tanga, ele o faz com as duas mãos)], com toda a sua força, [que está sendo escrita (Ibid. 3): "um grande golpe".]
Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
ידה טפח – the handle that the strap is hanging from, is the length of a hand-breadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
Introduction
Mishnah thirteen continues to describe the whip and how the lashes are to be administered.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
ורחבה – of the strap of the calf is a hand-breadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
The handle is a handbreadth long and a handbreadth wide, its tip reaching to the edge of the [offender’s] abdomen. Our mishnah continues to describe the whip used for lashing. Its handle was one handbreadth by one handbreadth. The tip of the whip, meaning the extra straps, should be long enough to reach the offender’s abdomen when the minister strikes him. The offender will be struck by the tip and not by the body of the whip, made of the cowhide.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
וראשה מגעת על פי כריסו – for that reason, there must be in the handle of the strap a hole, that the sexton who flogs can lengthen or shorten the strap as he wishes, for we do not flog a person other than with a strap whose head reaches the belly which is his navel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
He administers one-third [of the lashes] in front and two-thirds behind. He lashes him not in a standing or sitting position but stooping, as it says, “And the judge shall cause him to fall [stoop] down” (Deut. 25:2). He who administers the lashes lashes with his one hand and with his whole force. As we learned previously, one-third of the lashes are on his front and two-thirds on his back. The offender, when he is being lashed, is not to stand nor to sit but to lean over. This is learned from the verse which states that the judge should cause him to fall over. The verse is understood not to mean that the judge should cause him to fall all the way down but to stoop down. The person lashing can use only one hand but he should use all of his force.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
שליש מלפניו – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:2): “and be given lashes in his presence, [by count] as his guilt warrants” – “in his presence (i.e., in his front) as his guilt warrants” – one, and from his back – two. מלפניו – on his heart. מאחריו – one-third on this shoulder and one-third on the other shoulder.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
Questions for Further Thought: • Why do you think that two-thirds of the lashes are given on the back and one-third on the front?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
מכה בידו אחת – but when he lifts the strap, he lifts it with his two hands.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
כבל כחו – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:3): “to excess, [your brother be degraded before your eyes].”
