Makkot 7: Exile of Accidental Murderers, Upward/Downward Motions

Yesterday's daf introduced a Mishna regarding pairs of witnesses compared with single witnesses which might be added together to be considered a pair.  To decree capital punishment, unlike monetary issues, the rabbis are very careful about their interpretations.

Today's daf also moves us into Perek II.  We are introduced to another Mishna before beginning Perek II.  It teaches that when a person runs away after being sentenced to death, he will not be retried when he is found, whether that court is his previous court or another.  Certainly there will be witnesses to affirm has past verdict and the ensuing circumstances. Further, we learn that a Sanhedrin should be valid both in and outside of HaAretz.

Some rabbis argue that a Sanhedrin that executes a transgressor only once in seven years is called a destructive tribunal.  Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria say this is true of a court that executes one person in seventy years.  Rabbis Tarfon and Akiva assert that had they been on these courts, there would have been no executions at all.  Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that such rabbis would increase the number of murderers amount the Jewish people, for there would be fewer deterrents to committing murder.

Perek II begins with a new Mishna which lists those who are exiled to one of three cities established outside of the main city:

• one who kills another unintentionally through his downward motion is exiled
• one who kills another unintentionally through his upward motion is not exiled

Thus these people are exiled:

• one whose roller used to smooth the mortar of one's roof falls and kills someone
• one whose barrel that was on a roof that falls and kills someone

But these are not exiled:

• one who was pulling a roller toward him and it fell from his hands onto a person below
• one who was lifting a barrel and the rope was cut causing the barrel to fall on a person below
• one who climbed a ladder and fell on someone below

The Gemara focuses on where these guidelines originated.  There are Torah verses (Number 35:23, Deuteronomy 19:4, Numbers 35:22, Exodus 21:13, and Deuteronomy 19:5) that lead the rabbis to understand why directions are important - and why certain people are sent to 'ownerless land', or exiled.

The rabbis then consider some specific cases.  If a person is killed because a ladder rung hit him from above, and it was knocked out when a person was climbing up.  Is this a downward motion or an upward motion? Rabbi Yochanan decrees that this is a case where a downward motion for the purpose of an upward motion caused an unintentional murder, and thus the murderer is exiled.  The rabbis note later that a person is responsible for checking into whether or not the rung of one's ladder is damaged or worm infested before using the ladder.

We learn that a upward motion is also connection with a motion in front of the person, while a downward motion is connected to what happens behind a person.  An example is the swing of a butcher's cleaver, where the backward swing behind one's head is an upward motion, and the forward swing in front of one's body is a downward motion.  

A second new Mishna shares an argument between Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and the rabbis.  Is a person exiled after an ax breaks from its handle and kills someone; if part of a tree breaks off after being hit by an ax and kills someone?  Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi believes that these murderers should be exiled while the rabbis disagree.

The Gemara begins to explore this Mishna by looking at the word 'v'nashal' which could be read in one way and pronounced in another in the Torah.  The rabbis ask whether or not the Torah reading or vocalization of this word is authoritative.