[Avodah] Motive for the Restart of Smicha

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jul 18, 2023 at 03:44:12PM -0400, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> In a recent shiur R H Schachter mentioned that one of the reasons for the
> attempted restart of smicha in tzfat was in order to be able to give malkot
> (and associated kapara) to those who submitted to christianity. He then
> mentioned that those rabbis assumed a court of smuchim could do this even
> without hatraa having being given to the sinners. Any guesses as to why
> they thought so?

Note: because the discussion revolved around malkos, not harubei
beis din.

But here's my problem...

There is a long history of the rabbinate, without semichah, using
corporeal punishment as needed for the survival and integrity of the
community.

You need a beid din of semuchim for obligatory malkus, but that's not
the only case in which corporeal punishment is permitted.

So, what could they accomplish that could only be done through semichah?


-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Zion will be redeemed through justice,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and her returnees, through righteousness.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF