Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Ki Seitzei

Strike Price

September 12, 2024

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Dovid Englander  

Forty shall he strike him, he shall not add; lest he continue to strike him many blows beyond these…

Dvarim 25:3

The Gemara infers from this pasuk that it is forbidden to hit a person. The Rambam says this is derived from a kal vachomer: If even bais din, which is authorized to perform malkus, may not administer an extra lash, then unnecessary violence is certainly prohibited to an individual.

The Gemara says that even a person who raises his hand against another is called a rasha. This certainly pertains to raising a hand in preparation to strike, and the Rambam (Sefer Hamitzvos) implies that it also includes raising a hand as a threat.

Violence is permitted in some cases:

• Some poskim infer from the Rambam that one who asks to be struck may be indulged, because he writes (Choveil Umazik 5:1) that the issur is only violated by hitting “derech nitzayon (in the manner of fighting).” But the Chazon Ish maintains that no one has the authority to allow someone to strike his body, which is created betzelem
• R’ Moshe Feinstein says that a woman having a cosmetic surgeon improve her appearance via chavalah to the body is permitted, because it’s not derech nitzayon.
• The Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 420) says that violence may be used in self-defense if three conditions are met: The other party initiated, one’s intent is self-protection rather than revenge, and no alternative is available.