[Avodah] Redemption

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Jun 08, 2017 at 08:43:42PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: > How does a "goel hadam" work into all this? There is no restoration of
: > any kind. If the goel hadam was interested in justice, or even
: > punishment, he would bring the murderer to court. But in the heat of
: > the moment, his only thought is revenge. This is redemption?
: 
: The psukim are unclear as to the role and iirc many view the goel as an
: extension of the beit din.

Perhaps according to the Rambam (Rotzeiach 1:2), who says "mitzvah beyad
go'el hadam..." and if the go'el doesn't want to or there is none,
"BD memisin es harotzeiach besayif".

Rashi al haTorah appears to hold that "ein lo dam" means the go'el is
killing an already dead man, and therefore bears no guilt. Not a mitzvah,
but a reshus. (But see below.)

And if the go'el only has reshus, it's hard to say he is operating as
beis din's appointee.

Sanhedrin 45b says "mitzvah bego'el hadam", but if there is no go'el,
BD appoints one. There is no sayif.

BUT, Makos 2:7 has a machloqes:
R Yosi haGelili says that if the killer is found outside the techum,
it is a mitzvah on the go'el hadam and a reshus for everyone else
to kill him. (According to the beraisa on 12a, if there is no
go'el, there is reshus...)
R' Aqiva disagrees, saying it's a reshus for the go'el and a
non-punishable issur for anyone else. (According to the beraisa,
they are chayav.)

And here's the weird part -- despite what I quoted above from the Yad,
the Rambam on the mishnah says halakhah is like R' Aqiva.

Rashi on Makkos 12a says about Bamidbar 35:27 "ika leferushei lashon tzivui
ve'ika leferushei lashon tzivui.

In sum, I think RJR is understating it. It's not "only" the pesuqim that
are unclear.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The same boiling water
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