Group Punishment — BT Sanhedrin 43b-44a — #140

R. Yochanan said in the name of R. Elazar b. R. Shimon [bar Yochai]: These dots appear above “for us and for our children” because [God] did not punish [the entire nation] for hidden sins until the Jewish people crossed the Jordan River. The tanna’im [scholars of the first two centuries C.E.] differed concerning this. Concealed acts concern Adonai our God; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children forever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching (Deuteronomy 29:28). Why are there dots over “for us and for our children” and over “forever?” To teach that [God] did not punish [Israel] for hidden sins until the Jewish people crossed the Jordan River. These are the words of R. Yehudah. 

R. Nechemya said to him: And does [God] ever punish [all Israel] for hidden sins [of an individual]? Is it not stated, [The hidden matters belong to Adonai our God] forever? Rather, just as [God] did not punish [all Israel] for hidden sins [of an individual], so too, [God] did not punish [all Israel] for sins committed publicly [by an individual] until the Jewish people crossed the Jordan River. 
But if so, [44a] why were [the Jewish people] punished in the case of Achan? Because his wife and children knew about it [and did not protest].

INTRODUCTION

The Talmud (43b) has been discussing a potentially troubling incident that occurred when the Israelites, having crossed the Jordan River after wandering 40 years in the wilderness, attacked Jericho. Joshua charged the people not to collect the spoils of war, specifically gold and silver,  objects of copper and iron, which were to be consecrated to Adonai; they must go into the treasury of Adonai (Joshua 6:19). Achan, from the tribe of Judah, nonetheless took booty for himself. The Tana”kh reports: The Israelites, however, violated the proscription: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of that which was proscribed, and Adonai was incensed with the Israelites (7:1). If Achan alone violated the proscription, why was God angry with all Israel and held the entire nation accountable? How are we to understand God’s willingness to punish the entire nation for the sins of one person?

COMMENTARY

In a sefer Torah there is an unusual set of dots in Deuteronomy 19:28 over the words “for us and our children forever.” 

The full verse reads: Concealed acts concern  Adonai our God; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children forever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching. Private sins of an individual are between that person alone and God. Overt (which is to say, public) sins are punished according to the procedures stipulated in the Torah; that is, through human courts and their legitimate means of punishment. R. Yochanan bar Nappacha learned from R. Elazar, the son of R. Shimon bar Yochai, that these dots, in a manner of speaking, masked or suppressed the full application of “concealed acts” until after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, which they did before laying siege to Jericho. Once across, the rules changed and the full brunt of Deuteronomy 19:28 went into effect. This interpretation of the Deuteronomy verse and the implications flowing from it is a matter of dispute among the early rabbis, in particulate R. Yehudah bar Ilai and R. Nechemya, who both lived in the second century C.E. R. Yehudah agrees with R. Yochanan. R. Nechemya offers an alternative, more nuanced interpretation, questionsing whether God ever punishes the entire nation for the sins of one individual. The very claim that God engages in a sort of group punishment whereby an individual commits a sin in private (“concealed acts”) yet everyone is held accountable for what they did not do and did not see done, is problematic for R. Nechemya—and perhaps to many of us, as well.

R. Nechemya says that “forever” in Deuteronomy 19:28 applies not only to “overt acts” but also to the preceding phrase, “concealed acts concern God.” On this basis, he asserts that God never did, nor ever will, punish the Jewish people for the secret (“concealed”) sins of one individual. The distinction R. Yochanan learned from R. Elazar b. R. Shimon between “before crossing the Jordan” and “after crossing the Jordan” rather applies to overt sins—those committed in public, in the sight of all: prior to crossing the Jordan, Israel was not punished for the overt sins of a single person, but after crossing the Jordan, as a national in their own land, responsible for administering a system of justice, God held them responsible.

Gemara raises the question of Achan again. Would his violation not have been “concealed?” After all, he would not have wanted anyone to see him take booty, essentially stealing it from God. R. Nechemya explains: it was not secret. His wife and children, who were recipients of his theft,  knew about it. They did nothing. Further, we can conjecture that the family’s sudden wealth would have been visible.

Might the obligation to rebuke be on R. Nechemya’s mind? Leviticus 19:17 says, You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsfolk but incur no guilt because of them.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS

1. Many of us recall incidents of group punishment we endured in elementary school. For example, one child misbehaves and the entire class loses recess that day. How did you feel about the justice of this practice? If you considered it unjust, what was your reasoning? Can you see another side to the practice, even if you disagree with it?
2. In determining guilt and administering punishment, on what grounds might there be a distinction between” before” and “after" crossing the Jordan?
3. If people know of serious wrongdoing, but do nothing, what might be the consequences? What are the consequences of a society that does not sanction and punish overt wrongdoing that becomes publicly known? How does seeing an individual “get away with it” influence others? How does society’s failure to take action affect its system of justice and the people’s trust in the system of justice?