Laws of Damages

Is cosmetic plastic surgery permitted? The generally accepted view is that cosmetic plastic surgery is permissible to correct conditions that are a source of mental anguish. Otherwise, if there’s no health-related reason involved, it’s regarded as injuring oneself, which is…

What sins are punishable by death? The Mishnah in Sanhedrin enumerates the sins that carry death penalties. They include various sexual offenses and idolatrous practices, as well as blasphemy, murder, and desecration of the Sabbath. But even when the Sanhedrin…

Do the Jews believe in the death penalty for murder? The death penalty for murder is explicit in several places; two examples are Gen.9:6 and Lev.24:17,21. But Rabbinical courts rarely carried out the death penalty (Mishnah Makkos 1:10), and today…

Does the Torah allow capital punishment? Four death penalties – stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling – are prescribed for various major sins (Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:1). Administration of these penalties was rare because a person could be executed (or flogged) only…

What is the source of the prohibition against defacing public property? It is a violation of “bal tashchis”, the prohibition against destroying or damaging things, based on Deut. 20:19. See the article on “Bal Tashchis” in the Talmudic Encyclopedia, Vol.…

Doesn’t the Torah say that a transgressor is whipped 40 times?How were the Rabbis allowed to reduce the number to 39? Deut.25:2-3 says “he (an official) shall beat him (the transgressor) before him (the judge), according to his wickedness, a…

When is a person a TEREFAH? Is it permissible to kill such a person,or a dying person? Maimonides (Laws of Murder and Preservation of Life, 2:7) defines a Terefah as someone who, according to qualified medical opinion, suffers from a…