Sanhedrin 84: Strangulation, Hitting One's Parents

The rabbis wonder what amount of damage would render a priest ineligible to practice the Temple rites.  What if he is an acute mourner?  What if he is seated in the Temple? in  Leviticus 21:23 we learn that he cannot approach the alter its a blemish [because it would] desecrate G-d's sacred places. Like a priest who partakes of teruma when ritually impure, this is said to be punishable by death (both desecrate the Temple) at G-d's hand.  Or, if a different verbal analogy is used, by karet.  And then the rabbis apply a number of different possible readings that might result in a number of different punishments.

Perek X begins with a new Mishna. We learn that people who are strangled are those who:

• hit their father or mother
• abduct a Jew
• are rebellious elder according to the court
• are false prophets
• prophesize in the name of idol worship
• have intercourse with a married woman
• conceding witnesses to testify against the sexual behaviour of the daughter of a priest
• her paramour

The remainder of our daf focuses on the first of these situations, when one hits a parent.  The rabbis first consider which punishment is actually most appropriate.  They continue to argue about which is the most severe of the capital punishments available.  The Gemara also looks to similar cases: punishments for those who wound parents, those who wound animals, those who kill strangers.  We are reminded that there are exemptions from severe punishments by those who unintentionally harm people or animals, those who wound people or animals to heal them, and those who wound people or animals without causing bleeding.

Moving forward - or sideways - from this conversation the rabbis ask whether a son is permitted to perform bloodletting on his father. This is an act of healing or curing, but it also wounds one's father and causes bleeding.  If the father wants it, perhaps bloodletting should be permitted.  Cases are discussed to further elucidate and explain this question more fully.  Can a thorn be removed from one's father?  It might cause him to bleed.  What about on Shabbat?  Moving a small needle to remove a thorn on Shabbat may or may not be considered to be a destructive act.  Does it matter that the action may have nothing to do with tasks forbidden on Shabbat based on honouring the Mishkan?