Q&A: One Who Strikes His Canaanite Slave
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
One Who Strikes His Canaanite Slave
Question
- Is the exemption of “if he survives a day or two” only an exemption for the master from punishment, while he still violated the prohibition of murder, or did he not even transgress a prohibition at all?
- In the case of one who strikes his Canaanite slave and he dies after two days—in which case the master is exempt—what would the law be if the slave converted before he died (for example, if the master freed him)? Do we go by the time of the blow, when he was still a slave, so that the master is exempt under the law of “a day or two,” or do we go by the time of death, in which case he was already a Jew and the laws of murder would apply even after some time?
Answer
- See Maimonides, Hilkhot Rotzeach, chapter 2. A master is permitted to strike his slave with a rod, and therefore if he did not die immediately, there is no prohibition of murder here. That does not mean he is righteous, but there is no prohibition of murder here (and simply speaking, it seems this is not even accidental killing). By contrast, with someone else’s slave there is no law of “a day or two,” because he has no permission to strike him.
2. This can be learned from halakhah 14 there, that we follow the moment of the blow (though it is not absolutely conclusive). And that also makes sense logically, since the exemption is because he has permission to strike him; if he was under his authority at the time he struck him, then he had permission to strike him, and therefore he is exempt even if he sold or freed him. a0