DEUT1067 After all is said and done, though, the use of corporal punishment, even within permissible parameters, is questionable. The same Book of Proverbs that advocated the use of physical force in raising children (23:13-14) also says, "Educate a child according to his own way." (Proverb 22:6). The Talmud understands this to mean that parents should make age-appropriate demands so as not to put their children into a situation in which corporal punishment would be called for. In other words, parents have a duty to set reasonable standards for their children so they avoid even being tempted to use physical forms of discipline. As the Talmud says, parents must not make it difficult for their children to fulfill the commandment of honoring them. (B. Kiddushin 30a and see Rashi there). Even in the worst of cases – the kind of described by Deuteronomy -- the Talmud could not accept anything like the death penalty. The Rabbis therefore legislated evidentiary procedures that made it impossible ever to attain a capital conviction in such a case. Once having created these barriers, they themselves said, "A wayward and defiant son [subject to execution according to Deuteronomy 21:18–21] never was and never will be." (B. Sanhedrin 71a). If the Rabbis insisted that even courts not go to the limit available to them under biblical law in physically punishing children, parents should certainly limit the physical punishment they inflict – – or, even better, refrain from it altogether. After all, if the parents' duty is to teach the child proper behavior, they should not, in the process of doing so, do to the child exactly what they do not want the child to do to others. Educationally and pragmatically, then, as well as Jewishly, the best policy is not to use physical punishment at all.

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DEUT1068 See [[EXOD332]] Exodus 19:6 nation OXFORD 38-9

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DEUT1069 Burying the dead, besides being a mitzvah of the Torah, as it says [this verse], also belongs in the category gemiluth chesed. It is an even higher form, a chesed shel emeth, since no reciprocity can be expected here. Taking out the dead for burial, carrying the bier, joining the funeral procession, delivering the eulogy, and everything else done for the dead, involve gemiluth chesed. The topics are explained in the Torah portions of Chayei Sarah and Vayechi. Now see how important this is. Chazal have ruled (Mo'ed Katan 27b): "If someone in the city dies, all are forbidden to carry on their occupations." Now, if the deceased had relatives, the main duty of attending to his burial would devolve on them. Nevertheless the entire city is duty-bound to participate in the funeral. Hence all were forbidden to carry-on with their work. They were thereby endeavor to prepare whatever was necessary for the burial. (If the community has organized groups, each assigned a particular day for discharging these obligations, then those not on duty are free to continue with their occupations. Where the members of the Chevra Kaddisha have not been assigned specific days, but the entire society attends to the deceased, then they must all refrain from the regular occupations until their task has been completed and the coffin transferred to the pallbearers.) Even if the deceased had studied neither Tanach nor Mishnah, the rule applies: all work is prohibited. Torah study alone is not interrupted, as long as the funeral procession has not started, even if the deceased had studied Tanach and Mishnah. Once the coffin is taken out for burial, however, Torah study is stopped for one who was learned, even if the funeral is large, unless the number participating exceeds 600,000. Taking away the Torah (when a Talmid Chacham dies, his Torah departs) requires the same attendance as the giving of the Torah, which occurred in the presence of 600,000 men. Even the outstanding Torah scholar of the generation is not exempt from this obligation.

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DEUT1070 Publicly hang the corpse of certain sinners. Key concept: Publicize the seriousness of these two transgressions. Also the whole process of setting up the post and tying the corpse to it strikes fear into all who see.

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DEUT1071 Kevod ha-Beriyot: Human Dignity in Halakhah. The most fundamental assumption of Jewish ethics is that there is something intrinsically and ineradicably sacred about the human person, the human body and spirit as such. … Human dignity is arguably the foundational and most aspirational ideal of Jewish law. The injunction to avoid humiliating or contemptuous behavior takes legal precedence over all other Rabbinic rulings. [See Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 19b; Shabbat 81a-b, 94b; Eruvin 41b; Megillah 3b; Bava Kamma 79b; Menahot 37b, 38a. The parallel text in the Jerusalem Talmud (JT) presents the opinion of R. Zeira that even Torah commandments are temporarily overridden when they conflict with human dignity (JT Kil. 9:1).] The Rabbis thus designate human dignity as the litmus test for their sacred law, a seeming recognition that were the law to participate in dishonoring the human person, it would betray its own raison d'etre. What are some of the practical implications of this lofty principle?... 1. We are not to debase the human body. For many authorities, the idea that the human body is the corporeal representation of divinity gives rise to legal prohibitions against tattooing and multiple piercings, not only outright abuse and degradation of the body. The law prohibits dishonoring even the dead body of a criminal convicted of a capital crime. (Deuteronomy 21:23, Rashi ad. loc.). (By Melissa Weintraub)

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DEUT1074 See [[DEUT1080]] Deuteronomy 21:23 overnight AMEMEI 92

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DEUT1076 The Bible's opposition to the desecration of a body extends even to the corpse of a criminal. How much more should one be careful to avoid degrading the body of a law-abiding person. Tradition prescribes the proper conduct which constitutes honor of the dead. A corpse must not be left unattended. It should be watched up to the time of the burial to prevent its desecration by rodents (Berachot 18a; Rema, Yoreh Deah 373:5). The body should be washed and cleansed (Shabbat 151a). It should be swaddled in shrouds (ibid.). The virtues of a deceased should be lauded by eulogizers (Moed Katan 8a). It is the obligation of all people living in the community of the deceased to attend the funeral service (Berachot 18a) ... even people engaged in labor or in commerce should take time out to attend the funeral service (Moed Katan 27b).

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DEUT1072 Bury such a person, like all the dead, on the day of his death. When people see the executed person’s corpse hanging on the post, they will say that such is his punishment for having cursed the Holy One’s Name. When they utter these words, however, they remind themselves that such a sin as possible, and simply by speaking of the sin they do damage to their souls. Therefore, wanting only good for His creations, the Holy One requires that the corpse be taken down and buried on the same day that the person was executed. As a result, there is less opportunity for people to do self-inflicted damage to their souls.

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DEUT1075 See [[GEN125]] Genesis 1:27 image DORFFDRAG 5-6

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DEUT1073 Every life valuable is equally inviolable, including that of criminals, prisoners and defectives. In the title to life and its value, being infinite, there can be no distinction whatever between one person and another, whether innocent or guilty (except possibly persons under final sentence of death) (See Orah Hayyim, Mishnah Berurah, Bi'ur Halakhah, 329:4), whether healthy or crippled, demented and terminally afflicted. Thus, even a person's inviolability after death and his rights to dignity are decreed in the Bible specifically in relation to capital criminals, treated like everyone else "in the image of God" [this verse and Nahmanides a.l.; see also Hullin 11b]. Insane persons can sue for injuries received, even though they cannot be sued for inflicting them because of their legal incompetence. (Bava Kamma 8:4) The saving of physically or mentally defective persons sets aside all laws in the same way as the saving of normal people (See Orah Hayyim, Mishnah Berurah, Bi'ur Halakhah, 329:4).

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