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Rosh Kollel Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Makos 011b: Praying that the court should err
Solomon Spiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked:
The mishnah tells us that if one's guilty verdict was not yet pronounced by
the court and the kohen gadol dies and then a second kohen gadol is
appointed, the murderer is released only after the death of the second
kohen gadol.
The gemara asks what was this second kohen gadol to do--and rashi explains
that since the murder did not take place during his tenure as kohen gadol
he should not be punished by death.
And the gemara answers the kohen gadol should have prayed that the verdict
of the murderer should be in his favor, that is, innocent
My question: Is it right for a kohen gadol to pray that a court should
pronounce a verdict of innocence for a guilty murderer?!
Furthermore, isn't the verdict of a court a matter of halakhah, and not a
random accident that can be influenced by prayer?!
Solomon Spiro
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The Kollel replies:
We addressed these questions in our Insights, which I copy below.
Best regards,
M. Kornfeld
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3) DAVENING FOR A FAVORABLE VERDICT
QUESTION: The Mishnah states that if a person accidentally kills, and the
present Kohen Gadol dies before the killer is sentenced to Galus by Beis
Din, then the killer leave the Ir Miklat when the next Kohen Gadol dies.
The Gemara asks that we learned earlier that the Kohen Gadol's death is an
atonement for the accidental killers, since he should have prayed more to
ensure that such calamities not occur to the people of his generation. The
second Kohen Gadol, however, was not the Kohen Gadol when this killing
occurred. Since he was not responsible for the people at the time of the
killing, why is his death an atonement for the killings? Why is he held
partially responsible if there was nothing he could have done to prevent
the killings? The Gemara answers that he should have prayed -- when he was
appointed as the Kohen Gadol -- that this accidental killer be found innocent.
What does this mean? If the person indeed killed accidentally, then why
should he Daven that the judges of the Sanhedrin find him innocent and
exempt him from Galus? How can he pray that Sanhedrin err in their
judgement of the killer? If the killer is guilty, then he should be judged
accordingly!
ANSWERS:
(a) The ARUCH LA'NER and CHEMDAS YISRAEL suggest a novel idea. They explain
that the Kohen Gadol should have asked for Heavenly mercy in order that the
killer's sin be forgiven. Once the sin would have been forgiven by Hashem
-- thereby causing the perpetrator not to have to go to Galus in the
judgement of Hashem, Hashem would then sway the hearts of the judges to
declare him innocent as well (since he no longer needs atonement). The
court's judgement would not be in error, but rather it would be what the
person genuinely deserves according to the Divine plan.
(This approach implies that a sinner who did complete Teshuvah for his sin
would not be found guilty by Beis Din, which is a problematic implication.
See further discussion on the matter in Insights to Makos 13b.)
(b) The IYUN YAKOV answers that the Gemara in Sanhedrin (17a) teaches that
when all of the members of Sanhedrin agree unanimously that a person is
guilty in a case of capital punishment, he is automatically exonerated from
punishment (see Insights to Sanhedrin 17:2 for the reasoning behind this
law). If the Kohen Gadol intervenes by praying to Hashem and causing the
sin to be forgiven, then this will cause the Beis Din to unanimously rule
that the defendant is *guilty*. In this way, Beis Din will not be making a
mistake regarding the judgement, and the defendant will be exempt from
receiving a punishment that he no longer deserves. (Y. Montrose)
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