Hello, continuing the laws from the book Brit Shalom, in the fifth chapter, which deals with the laws of murder or harm to the life of another person.
Now, here we are, in section 22, discussing harm that is a beating. Let’s say someone strikes their friend. Is this forbidden or not?
The Talmud says, and here I bring the quote from Sanhedrin, "One who strikes his friend is called wicked." Where do we see this? When Moses saw two Hebrews beating each other, Moses says to the wicked one: "Why are you striking your fellow?" Our sages learned from this that one who strikes his friend is called wicked.
And what if the person receiving the blow is not just anyone, but a Jew?
Here we see an even greater severity. It is said that striking a person from Israel is especially severe, as stated in Sanhedrin, with very harsh words regarding one who strikes a Jew.
It is self-evident that striking anyone is serious, and all the more so when it involves striking a member of the people of Israel, who have suffered many blows throughout their difficult history.
But here there are additional laws. Is it permitted to kill an animal that causes harm? Harmful animals can be killed. For example, bees or wasps that might sting me. There is no prohibition against killing them. In fact, it may even prevent the harm they could cause to someone else.
