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Kareth

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The Hebrew termkareth( "cutting off"Hebrew:כָּרֵת,[kaˈret]), orextirpation,is a form of punishment for sin, mentioned in theHebrew Bibleand later Jewish writings. The typical Biblical phrase used is "that soul shall be cut off from its people" or a slight variation of this.[1]Several different suggestions have been made for the understanding of this punishment in the Bible and in rabbinic thought.

Etymology

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The wordkarethis derived from the Hebrew verbkarat( "to cut off" ). The noun formkarethdoes not occur in the Hebrew Bible; rather, verb forms such asvenichreta( "[that soul] shall be cut off" ) are most common.[2]

Hebrew Bible

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In the Hebrew Bible, verbs that underlie the later use of the noun formkarethrefer to forms of punishment including premature death,[3]or else exclusion from the people.[4][5]The former view is implied by verses stating that the punishment will be inflicted directly by God,[6]while the latter view may be suggested by verses which distinguish between being "cut off" and executed.[7]However, elsewhere bothkarethand the death penalty are specified as punishments for the same crime, implying thatkarethis not exclusion, as exclusion and death are presumably incompatible penalties.[8]According toRichard C. Steiner,the phrase "to be cut off from one's people" is an antonym for "to be gathered to one's people" (e.g.Genesis 25:8), and thus to be "cut off" in the Bible means to be deprived of the afterlife.[9]

Examples of sins making a person liable to what is later referred to askarethinclude eatingchametzonPassover,[10]sexual violations,[11]ritual impurities, and a man's refusal to be circumcised.[12]TheBook of Numbersalso states that anyone who sins deliberately or high-handedly is "cut off."[13]

Rabbinic interpretation

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Karethis the punishment for certain crimes and offences defined under Jewish law (e.g. eating the life blood of a living animal, eatingsuet,refusing to becircumcised,etc.), a punishment that can only be given at the hands of heaven. In some cases of sexual misconduct and in breaking the laws of the Sabbath, such as where there are witnesses of the act, such sins can also be punished with the judicial death penalty. By definition,karethdoes not apply to non-Jews.

According to rabbinic sources,karethcan either mean dying young (before the age of 50 or 60),[14]or else dying without children,[15]or else the extinction of the soul and denial of a share in theworld to come.[16][17]According toNachmanides,multiple definitions are accurate, and are applicable according to the nature of the person that committed the offense. If he was generally a good person, meaning that the good in him outweighed the evil, he is punished with dying before his time, unless he had other virtues that are cause for him to merit living out his full life, but retains his portion in the world to come. However, if the evil in him outweighed the good, he is then granted a good and lengthy life to reward him for the good that he did in his life, but upon death, he will have no portion in the world to come.[18]According to RabbiYonah Gerondi,theTorahitself makes a distinction as to which form ofkarethis to be applied for a particular offense. In most cases, the Torah uses the term such as that in Leviticus 18:29; the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people, which he says is a reference to a punishment in this world. However, when the Torah uses a term such as that in Numbers 15:31, that person will be cut off completely, his offense will remain with him, that penalty refers to being spiritually cut off after death.[19]

There are two opinions as to what the nature of being spiritually cut off means in reference to the soul after death.Maimonidesis of the opinion that this means that upon his death the "soul that left his body is completely destroyed and he dies the death of animal".[20]Nachmanidesmaintains that the soul is not destroyed, but that the soul being cut off after death is a reference to the spiritual world where after death the soul exists in an exalted spiritual state, and that the penalty of Kareth is that he is not eligible to enter into that world. However, the soul lives on, and is eligible for theresurrection of the dead.[21]

Karethis applicable only when the transgression wasdone on purpose,and without laterproper repentance,and is applicable only to Jews. Whendone unintentionally,such a transgression generally requires that asin-offeringbe brought.

Kerithoth( "Excisions" ), the plural ofkareth,is the seventh tractate of the fifth orderKodashimof theMishnah.

Offenses punishable bykareth

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According to theMishnah,[22]karethis the punishment for the following 36 offenses (where the offense is sexual intercourse,karethapplies to all consenting parties):

  1. Sexual intercourse with one's mother
  2. Sexual intercourse with one's father's wife
  3. Sexual intercourse with one's son's wife
  4. A male having sexual intercourse with another male
  5. A male having sexual intercourse with an animal
  6. A female having sexual intercourse with an animal
  7. Having sexual intercourse with both a mother and her daughter within the span of his lifetime
  8. Sexual intercourse with a married woman
  9. Sexual intercourse with one's sister
  10. Sexual intercourse with one's father's sister
  11. Sexual intercourse with one's mother's sister
  12. Sexual intercourse with the sister of one's wife
  13. Sexual intercourse with one's brother's wife
  14. Sexual intercourse with the wife of one's father's brother
  15. Sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman, known as aniddah
  16. Cursing God using theTetragrammaton,known asmegadef(מגדף)
  17. Worshiping a deity other than God, known asAvodah Zarah(In Jewish law, idolatry is understood as implying an act that one does for another god and which is tantamount to what an Israelite would normally do for his own God, such as bowing down unto it, or sacrificing unto it, etc.)
  18. Delivering one's child toMoloch
  19. Consulting with a spiritthrough a process known asov(אוב)
  20. Violating theShabbatby doing one of the39 categories of activities prohibited on Shabbat
  21. Eating of an offering while in a state ofritual impurity,known astumah
  22. Entering the temple orTabernaclewhile in a state of ritual impurity, known astumah
  23. Eating of a form of animal fat known aschelev(This prohibition applies only to thesuetof domesticated animals, e.g. bullocks, sheep and goats, but not to the suet of wild game animals, such as deer, gazelles, and antelope)[23]
  24. Eating or drinking blood (excluding the blood of fish)
  25. Eating of an offering after the allowable time for the eating of that offering has expired. An offering in this state is known asnotar(נותר)
  26. Eating of an offering that was offered with the intention of eating of it after the allowable time for the eating of that offering has expired. Such an offering is known aspigul(פיגול)
  27. Slaughtering an animal offering outside the boundaries of the temple or Tabernacle
  28. Offering up an animal offering upon an altar outside the boundaries of the temple or Tabernacle
  29. EatingchametzonPassover
  30. Eating or drinking onYom Kippur(applies to eating at least a date's bulk of food within the space of 2–4 minutes)
  31. ViolatingYom Kippurby doing one of the 39 categories of activities that are prohibited onShabbat
  32. Creating a replication of theholy anointing oil(שמן המשחה) that was used for the anointment of high priests and kings of the house of David that was made by Moses, using the same ingredients and precise measurements, and creating it in the same volume as created by Moses[24]
  33. Creating a replication of theincense offering,known as theKetoret,using the same ingredients and precise measurements of theKetoret
  34. Anointing oneself with theholy anointing oilthat was created by Moses
  35. Failure to bring the Passover offering (Kareth, in this case, applies only to the person who is ritually pure, and not on a long journey, yet he still refuses to bring a Passover offering, in accordance withNumbers 9:9–13.)
  36. Failure to be circumcised

See also

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References

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  1. ^Genesis 17:14;Exodus 12:19;Leviticus 7:20;etc.
  2. ^AlHatorah search
  3. ^Mark F. Rooker, Dennis R. ColeLeviticus2000 Page 108 "This latter category cannot be expiated, and the offender is karat, “cut off,” a term often understood as designating a premature death ".
  4. ^International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J - Page 219 Geoffrey W. Bromiley - 1995 "Kerithoth (<Heb. karat," to cut off ")
  5. ^"Genesis 17: Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers".Biblehub.2023.
  6. ^Leviticus 17:10;20:5
  7. ^Leviticus 17:9andLeviticus 24:16–17
  8. ^Exodus 31:14
  9. ^Richard C. Steiner,Disembodied souls: the Nefesh in Israel and kindred spirits in the ancient Near East, with an appendix on the Katumuwa inscription(SBL Press, 2015), p. 126
  10. ^Exodus 12:15,19
  11. ^Leviticus 18:29
  12. ^Genesis 17:14
  13. ^Numbers 15:30–31
  14. ^Moed Kattan 28a
  15. ^Rashi,commentary to Kritut 2a;Rashi, Numbers 17:9
  16. ^de Sola Pool, David (1916).Capital punishment among the Jews: a paper read before the New York Board of Jewish Ministers.Bloch. p.26.
  17. ^The Talmud with English translation and commentary: Volume 1A. Zvi Ehrman1965 "Kareth means not necessarily physical dissolution but extinction of the soul and its denial of a share in the world to come. This exposition, stemming from Rav's saying on our page, is usually deemed the accepted Jewish view on the..."
  18. ^Ramban, Leviticus 18:29
  19. ^Shaarei Teshuva,3:124
  20. ^Maimonides,Mishneh Torah,Laws of Repentance 8:1
  21. ^Nachmanides, Commentary on the Torah. Leviticus 18:29
  22. ^Kerithoth1:1
  23. ^Babylonian Talmud,Chullin109b
  24. ^Maimonides, Commentary on Mishnah, Krithoth 1:1
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