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

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 07:58:48PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: Halacha 2 does equate one who hires a murderer with the one who
: throws the victim to a lion, in that both are exempt from capital
: punishment. However it seems clear to me that Halacha 3 there explains
: that this is a technicality, specifically due to the way certain pesukim
: were phrased.

Never mind 2:3, 2:2 itself is clear. "Shofeikh damim hu, va'avon hariga
beyado, vechayyav mishah lashamayim, ve'en bahem misas BD". The godfather
is guilty. In fact, 2:5 tells BD to punish him both corporeally and in
prison, despite the inapplicability of misah. (And even killing him is
allowed as a hora'as sha'ah when needed -- 2:4.)

Ein sheliach lidevar aveirah doesn't apply here -- "hassokheir horeig
... shofeikh damim hu."

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha