[Avodah] the godfather is innocent, should you want to punish him?

[Zev Sero]

On 1/06/2011 3:50 AM, Meir Rabi wrote:
> R Z Sero suggests that
> According to dinei Torah the godfather is indeed innocent,
>
> Not being punishable within the framework of BD does not mean that
> the gfather is innocent. Is he not Chayev BeDinei Shomayim?

I don't know.  Is he?  Ein shliach lidvar avera is not just a technical
rule, it's a moral truth.  People are moral agents.  A mesis umediach
is guilty for the attempt, not for succeeding;the Torah says "ki vikesh".
I'm not aware that he's more guilty if he succeeds than if he fails.


> R Zev adds
> so why should you want to punish him?
>
> I do not quite know if R Zev meant this, but his comment can be read as,
> it is not right to want to punish someone who is not transgressing the
> letter of the Law.   I disagree. Should we not want to punish people who
> are evil? Ohavey HaShem must hate evil and I assume this includes wanting
> to punish them.

Really?  Even evil people who have done nothing wrong?  Just for being
evil in their hearts?  How do you justify that? What are you punishing
them *for*?

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher