Introduction Mishnah six continues to list what I have termed “extra-halakhic” punishments.
If one steals the sacred vessel called a “kasvah” (Numbers 4:7), or cursed by the name of an idol, or has sexual relations with an Aramean (non-Jewish woman, he is punished by zealots. This section lists three crimes in which the mishnah allows religious zealots to kill the perpertrator at the moment of the crime even though these crimes do not normally carry the death penalty. The first crime is stealing a sacred vessel from the Temple. The second crime is one who used the name of an idol to curse another person. The third crime is one who has relations with an Aramean woman (or any idol worshipping woman). The quintessential example of the zealot in the Torah is the example Pinchas, who upon seeing an Israelite having sexual relations in public with an Midianite woman, kills the two of them on the spot. God rewards Pinchas for his zealotry by giving him a “covenant of peace” (Numbers 25:6-13). Of course, Jewish tradition was very troubled by people taking the law into their own hands and summarily executing others. When reading this mishnah we must take into consideration that it is embedded in a tractate entirely devoted to the establishment of courts and judicial procedure. This mishnah does teach, though, that occasionally vigilante justice is legitimate.
If a priest performed the temple service while impure, his fellow priests do not bring him to the court, but rather the young priests take him out into the courtyard and split his skull with clubs. A priest who served in the Temple while impure has committed a grave crime in the eyes of Jewish law and is, according to halacha to be flogged. However, our mishnah describes what the kohanim would in practice do to one of their fellow kohanim who had served in the Temple while impure. The younger members of the priesthood would split his skull with clubs. Although this mishnah sounds barbaric to our modern ears, it is important to remember the degree of sanctity that existed in the Temple. The Temple was God’s dwelling place on earth and one who caused it to become impure endangered all of Israel. The kohanim have been charged with protecting that sanctity, and therefore took any violation of it with the utmost seriousness.
A layman who performed the service in the Temple: Rabbi Akiva says: “He is strangled.” But the Sages say: “[His death is] at the hands of heaven.” According to Numbers 18:7 any stranger, i.e. one who is not a priest, who performs the priest’s work in the Temple shall die. Rabbi Akiva understands this as a court enforced death penalty, whereas the Sages understand this as a death penalty meted out by God, and not by the court.
Questions for Further Thought:
• What is the difference between section three and the previous two sections of this mishnah and the previous mishnah?