Consider The Case Of A Butcher...

Divine Code for December 20, 2022

Today: Pages 366-368

Part 5:15 -- 5:19

Consider the case of a butcher who, while cutting meat, raised the cleaver backwards to gain more force to cut through a bone, and killed a nearby person who had permission to be in the butcher shop. If the person was killed by the force of the butcher swinging backwards, the butcher need not go into exile, and a blood-redeemer has no permission to kill him. But if the person was killed in the swing forward (including the upward swing from the back before the cleaver descends), the butcher committed a preventable accident (and should go into exile, and if not, the permission for a blood-redeemer applies). It is a general rule of the Torah that if the intended objective of the lethal action was a descending motion, even if it started with an ascending motion, the person who accidentally killed while doing this action should be exiled, to atone for not taking caution. If the intended objective of the lethal action was an ascending motion, even if it started with a descending motion, the person who did this action would be fully exempt, as this is considered an unpreventable accident.

Curious about the whole page? You can read it in The Divine Code.

Reading schedule the Divine Code

Yesterday: 5:12 -- 5:14

Tomorrow: 6:1 -- 6:2

Brought By Sarah Bakker

---

Sarah Bakker is a blog writer and illustrator for the Noahide Academy. After a difficult time, she found Judaism. She has been a Noahide for many years and uses her experiences and knowledge combined with her creative talents to help others.

More from Sarah Bakker

---

Sources

The Divine Code (Third Edition)

---

© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further.

NoahideAcademy.org's copyright policy.