E o leitor lê, [está sendo escrito (Levítico 19:20): "bikkoreth tihyeh" —"Ela estará sujeita à leitura (kriah)", sendo lida sobre a ferida: "Se você não deve prestar atenção, etc." O juiz sênior lê, o segundo conta e o terceiro "chama" cada golpe. E é uma mitzvá para o leitor concluir a leitura com a conclusão das listras. Não fazendo isso, ele repete a leitura rapidamente, para coincidir com o final das faixas.] ("O leitor lê" :) (Deuteronômio 28:58): "Se você não deve prestar atenção ... então o Deus fará maravilhas as tuas feridas e as feridas, etc. ", e ele volta ao começo do verso. (Ibid. 29: 8): "E guardarás as palavras desta aliança, etc." E ele conclui (Salmos 78:38): "e, sendo misericordioso, expiará o pecado, etc.", e ele volta ao início do versículo. E se ele morre sob sua mão, ele não é responsável, [tendo-o ferido por autoridade]. Se ele adicionou um chicote, [errando o número], e ele morreu, ele é exilado. Se ele se suja, seja com excrementos ou com urina [enquanto está ferido], ele é excluído (pelas faixas restantes) [que está sendo escrito (Deuteronômio 25: 3): "e seu irmão seja humilhado diante de seus olhos"—e ele é assim humilhado.] R. Yehudah diz: Um homem com excremento; uma mulher, mesmo com urina, sua vergonha é maior. A halachá não está de acordo com R. Yehudah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
והקורא קורא – as it is written (Leviticus 19:20): “there shall be indemnity; [they shall not, however, be put to death…”through reading it shall be, for we read about him (Deuteronomy 28:58): “If you fail to observe faithfully [all the terms of this Teaching that are written in this book]…etc.” The greatest of the judges reads [the Biblical text of Deuteronomy 28:58-59) and the one next to him counts and the third states after each beating [what has occurred]. And it is a Mitzvah upon the reader to shorten and to complete the Biblical verses following the flogging, and if he didn’t shorten, he returns and reads it a second time and hurries to read and to complete when the flogger completes his floggings (Makkot 23a).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
Introduction
The first half of mishnah fourteen lists the Biblical verses that are called out while the lashes are being administered. The second half of the mishnah discusses the offender either dying or befouling himself while being lashed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
ואם מת תחת ידו פטור – because he beats him with permission
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
And the one who recites, says: “If you fail to observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching…the Lord will inflict upon you extraordinary plagues (” (Deut. 25:58-59) And then (if time he returns to the beginning of the section. While the lashes are being administered Biblical verses are read out loud. These verses function as a warning to the person being lashed and to those witnessing. The verse in Deuteronomy warns that if Israel fails to observe the Torah (“Teaching”) God will punish Israel with plagues. In Hebrew the word plagues (makkoth) is the same word as lashes. This verse can be read to say that one who does not observe the Torah will be punished with lashes. If the reader has finished reciting the verses and there remains more lashes to be administered, the reader begins again to recite the verse from the beginning.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
הוסיף לו – such as the case where he made an error in the counting.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
[“Therefore observe faithfully all the terms of this covenant” (Deut. 28:9) and he completes by saying, “And He is merciful, forgiving iniquity” (Psalms 78:38).] This line is missing in many versions of the mishnah, hence it is in brackets. Those manuscripts which do contain this line do not contain the previous line, section 2a. According to this version, a different verse is also recited and when close to finishing the lashes, the reader calls out a verse which mentions God’s mercy.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
נתקלקל – as a result of the beatings, feces came out.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
If the offender dies under his hand, he is exempt [from penalty]. If he gave him one more lash and the offender died, he goes into banishment. If the offender dies while being lashed the one administering the lashes is not responsible, not even as an accidental killer. This law was already learned in chapter two, mishnah two. Our mishnah adds that if the one lashing mistakenly added one lash more than was prescribed, and then the offender died, he is considered a manslayer and hence must go into banishment. The assumption is that the one lashing did not kill the offender on purpose and therefore he is not judged as an intentional killer but as an accidental one.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
פטור – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:3): “your brother be degraded before your eyes,” for he became degraded when he became soiled.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
If the offender befouled himself either with feces or urine, he is exempt. Rabbi Judah says: “Feces in the case of a man and [even] urine in the case of a woman. If the offender befouls himself, either by defecating or urinating, while being lashed, the lashing ends. This is a remarkable law, teaching that even at the time when the court is by definition punishing and humiliating the criminal, we are still to be concerned for his honor. By befouling himself in public the criminal is overwhelmingly shamed, and therefore the court cannot continue to punish him. Rabbi Judah states that there is a difference between men and women. Since women are more easily shamed, if they either defecate or urinate while being flogged they are immediately exempt from further lashes. Men, on the other hand, are exempt only if they defecate, which is for obvious reasons considered to be a greater embarrassment.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot
ואשה אף במים – since her shame is greater. And the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makkot
Questions for Further Thought: • What is the context of the verse in Deuteronomy, quoted in section one? How might this context effect how the verse is understood when recited during the lashing? • Why do some versions have the reader call out the verse from Psalms? What message does this verse convey?
