Kareth


The Hebrew term kareth is a form of punishment for sin, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish writings. The word kareth is derived from the Hebrew verb karat. The noun form kareth does not occur in the Hebrew Bible. The plural, Kerithoth, is the seventh tractate of the fifth order Kodashim of the Mishnah. In the Talmud, kareth means not necessarily physical "cutting off" of life, but extinction of the soul and denial of a share in the world to come.

Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, kareth is a form of punishment which may mean premature death, or else exclusion from the people. According to Richard C. Steiner, the phrase "to be cut off from one's people" is an antonym for "to be gathered to one's people", and thus kareth in the Bible means to be deprived of the afterlife.
Examples of sins making a person liable to kareth include eating chametz on Passover, sexual violations, ritual impurities, and a man's refusal to be circumcised. The Book of Numbers states that anyone who sins deliberately or high-handedly receives kareth.

Rabbinic interpretation

Kareth is the punishment for certain crimes and offences defined under Jewish law, a punishment that can only be given at the hand of heaven unto persons of the Jewish faith who are bound to keep the Jewish law, rather than made punishable by any earthly court. In some cases of sexual misconduct and in breaking the laws of the Sabbath, such as where there are witnesses of the act, the court is able to inflict punishment. By definition, kareth does not apply to non-Jews. Kareth can either mean dying young, dying without children, or the soul being spiritually "cut off" from your people after death. According to Nachmanides, both definitions are accurate, and are applicable according to the nature of the person that committed the offense. If he was generally a good person, meaning that the good in him outweighed the evil, he is punished with dying before his time, unless he had other virtues that are cause for him to merit living out his full life, but retains his portion in the world to come. However, if the evil in him outweighed the good, he is then granted a good and lengthy life to reward him for the good that he did in his life, but upon death, he will have no portion in the world to come. The medieval scholar Rabbi Yonah Gerondi, in his famous ethical work The Gates of Repentance, says that the Torah itself makes a distinction as to which form of kareth is to be applied for a particular offense. In most cases, the Torah uses the term such as that in Leviticus 18:29; the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people, which he says is a reference to a punishment in this world. However, when the Torah uses a term such as that in Numbers 15:31, that person will be cut off completely, his offense will remain with him, that penalty refers to being spiritually cut off after death.
There are two opinions as to what the nature of being spiritually cut off means in reference to the soul after death. Maimonides is of the opinion that this means that upon his death the "soul that left his body is completely destroyed and he dies the death of animal". Nachmanides maintains that the soul is not destroyed, but that the soul being cut off after death is a reference to the spiritual world where after death the soul exists in an exalted spiritual state, and that the penalty of Kareth is that he is not eligible to enter into that world. However, the soul lives on, and is eligible for the Resurrection of the dead.
Kareth is applicable only when the transgression was done on purpose, and without later proper repentance, and is applicable only to Jews. When done unintentionally, such a transgression generally requires that a sin-offering be brought.

Offenses punishable by ''kareth''

According to the Mishnah, kareth is the punishment for the following 36 offenses :
  1. Sexual intercourse with one's mother
  2. Sexual intercourse with one's father's wife
  3. Sexual intercourse with one's son's wife
  4. A male having sexual intercourse with another male
  5. A male having sexual intercourse with an animal
  6. A female having sexual intercourse with an animal
  7. Having sexual intercourse with both a mother and her daughter within the span of his lifetime
  8. Sexual intercourse with a married woman
  9. Sexual intercourse with one's sister
  10. Sexual intercourse with one's father's sister
  11. Sexual intercourse with one's mother's sister
  12. Sexual intercourse with the sister of one's wife
  13. Sexual intercourse with one's brother's wife
  14. Sexual intercourse with the wife of one's father's brother
  15. Sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman, known as a niddah
  16. Cursing God using the Tetragrammaton, known as megadef )
  17. Worshiping a deity other than God, known as Avodah Zarah
  18. Delivering one's child to Moloch
  19. Consulting with a spirit through a process known as ov
  20. Violating the Shabbat by doing one of the 39 categories of activities prohibited on Shabbat
  21. Eating of an offering while in a state of ritual impurity, known as tumah
  22. Entering the temple or Tabernacle while in a state of ritual impurity, known as tumah
  23. Eating of a form of animal fat known as chelev
  24. Eating or drinking blood
  25. Eating of an offering after the allowable time for the eating of that offering has expired. An offering in this state is known as notar
  26. Eating of an offering that was offered with the intention of eating of it after the allowable time for the eating of that offering has expired. Such an offering is known as pigul
  27. Slaughtering an animal offering outside the boundaries of the temple or Tabernacle
  28. Offering up an animal offering upon an altar outside the boundaries of the temple or Tabernacle
  29. Eating chametz on Passover
  30. Eating or drinking on Yom Kippur
  31. Violating Yom Kippur by doing one of the 39 categories of activities that are prohibited on Shabbat
  32. Creating a replication of the holy anointing oil that was used for the anointment of high priests and kings of the house of David that was made by Moses, using the same ingredients and precise measurements, and creating it in the same volume as created by Moses
  33. Creating a replication of the incense offering, known as the Ketoret, using the same ingredients and precise measurements of the Ketoret
  34. Anointing oneself with the holy anointing oil that was created by Moses
  35. Failure to bring the Passover offering
  36. Failure to be circumcised