בס''ד

THE DAILY DAF MESSAGE OF THE BET ZVI DAFactory

A Fiery Question

Rashi, (Yevamos 6b) points out that according to R' Nosson, had it not been for the fact that the pasuk specified kindling as being a separate entity, we would have thought that an intentional sinner receives the death penalty only if he transgressed all of the 39 melachos at one time.

The Mizrachi asks on Rashi from the incident of the first ever intentional Shabbos desecrator, the 'mekoshesh eitzim' (ME.E). Two weeks after receiving the commandment to observe the Shabbos, this man publicly and blatantly desecrated the Shabbos by carrying in a public domain, and was later sentenced to death and executed.

So even without the pasuk singling out the melacha of kindling we could not possibly have thought that all 39 melachos need to be broken in order to receive the capital punishment?

Sefer Chemdas Yisrael makes a distinction between the Mekoshesh and a layman. The Mekoshesh acted in front of the tzibbur, so not only did he transgress the Shabbos, but he also cheapened the express will of Hashem in the eyes of the nation, (CHILUL HASHEM).

In such a case, the severity of the situation warranted a death penalty even though the he had not violated all 39 melachos.

However, we could easily assume that an individual who desecrates the Shabbos in the privacy of his own home would only be liable for the death penalty if he did all 39 melachos.