[Avodah] Din Moser

[Zev Sero]

Harvey Benton wrote:
> I heard (second hand) that a big Rov and Dayan in my town recently spoke 
> in front of a number of people and told them that a certain person had 
> the din of a moser.  The Rov (allegedly) said that it was a clear-cut 
> case in SA, that he was chayav mitah, and that if he had been living in 
> New York, he would be dead already. 
> 
> I was quite taken back when I heard this and wondered:  1. Why would the 
> Rov tell that to a group of people?

So they should know to be careful of him, of course.  If someone is a
danger to the public, how can you *not* warn people?


> If in fact he holds that way (I 
> heard it being told over in the presence of the Rabbi of my shul) then 
> why advertise it?  If a hothead acted on it, would blood, CV, be on the 
> Rov/Dayan's head?

If in fact he holds that way, then the person's blood is muttar, so why
would it be on the dayan's head, or on anybody's?  On the contrary, maybe
someone will find himself in a situation where he can kill this person
without danger to himself.


>  2.  I do not know if the Rov consulted with any other 
> Dayanim, but wouldn't at a minimum a Beis Din of 3 be necessary for such 
> a life and death pronouncment?

If it's proposed to actually kill the person then I believe it's customary
to assemble a BD of 23, if possible.  But I'm not aware of any halachic
requirement to do so, and it's certainly not required if no actual killing
is contemplated, but merely informing people of his status.


>  3.  We do not have a Sanhedrin nowadays 
> that can pasken on such serious issues: why and to what lengths did the 
> Chachamim empower post-Sanhedrin authorities to decide on things like 
> this?

What has this got to do with a sanhedrin?  The din of rodef and moser
is up to each individual to determine.  When one sees someone about to
kill someone else, and one has a clear shot at him, one doesn't stop to
ask a shayla.


>  4. Should such pronouncements be discouraged, in light of the 
> fact that Yigal Amir's assasination of Yitzchak Rabin was possibly at 
> the least, fueled by such din moser talk?

"Fact" and "possibly" contradict each other.  And who says it was wrong?
Had it not been crystal clear that killing Rabin would only make things
worse, had it been reasonable to assume that killing him would stop the
slaughter of Jews instead of increasing it, would it not have been right
to kill him?

-- 
Zev Sero                    A mathemetician is a device for turning coffee
zev at sero.name               into theorems.                   - Paul Erdos