Killing Noah’s son
In the SD
Hello Rabbi,
In the daily chapter of Rambam (9 Kings) we learn about the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah.
I wanted to ask how you understand this whole episode,
1. How do you understand this Maimonides? It seems that Ben Noah was killed for almost anything and was completely worthless.
2. Maimonides believes that this is the central tenet. (Halakah 1)
3. Does he have the ability to repent? Or a formal process so that they don’t kill him?
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- I didn’t understand what is worthless? The life of a Gentile? It is certainly not completely worthless (after all, there is a Torah prohibition against killing him). But he is punished severely for every offense. In several places we see that the Halacha measures the value of life according to the number of commandments imposed on us (for example, in the instructions in the Kadima law on salvation). Therefore, the value of a Gentile’s life is perceived as lower than the life of a Jew. And perhaps only when he commits an offense does the value of his life decrease.
- What is the question?
- This is a question about any punishment in Halacha. The accepted view is that a reply does not exempt from the punishments of the Day of Judgment, but there is an opinion that it does. See column 91.
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The question was that if this is the LBM, then it is impossible to make the claim that the Gentiles during the time of Chazal were different from today..
Thank you, I will read there
In principle, yes, it is possible. The LBM states that one who behaves unbecomingly should be punished in this way. See Rambam in Shors 1 regarding Hanukkah and Purim according to the method of the Ha-Hag, which explained why this cannot be from the Torah. And his words can be rejected as I wrote here.
In my opinion, question A was misunderstood. It seems that the questioner intended that a seemingly innocent person be killed even for a worthless theft.
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