Q&A: Hello Rabbi
Hello Rabbi
Question
How do you explain the Rema’s ruling (Yoreh De’ah 340:5) that a person killed by gentiles should be mourned, even though during his lifetime he was an apostate? (And see the Shakh and Taz there, that the view introduced by “there are those who say” is not speaking about this matter.)
Answer
I wrote about this in the second book. Of course, the fact that he was killed by gentiles does not make him righteous or holy in any way, since it was not by his choice. But perhaps death atones for sins (after all, in the categories of atonement we find that death atones), and therefore there is no prohibition against mourning him. He paid his debt to society (that is, to the Holy One, blessed be He). It is also possible to explain this as an educational guideline rather than something essential, and that too can be explained in several ways.
Well, the above answers are somewhat forced. By the way, I forgot to mention that the Shakh there cites the Ateret Zahav, who holds that the reason one may mourn him is that presumably he had thoughts of repentance before his death.