Cherem (or Herem חרם), is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church. Shunning is the act of deliberately avoiding association with and habitually keeping away from an individual or group Excommunication is a religious Censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community Cognate terms in other Semitic languages include the Arabic term ḥarām (forbidden, taboo, off-limits, sacred), and the Ethiopic `irm (meaning accursed). Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Haraam (حرام is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden" Ge'ez (ግዕዝ, ɡɨʕɨz also transliterated Gi'iz, and referred to as Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic Language
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Summary
Although developed from the Biblical ban, excommunication, as employed by the Rabbis during Talmudic times and during the Middle Ages, is really a rabbinic institution. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Excommunication is a religious Censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Its object was to preserve Jewish solidarity. The legal instinct of the Rabbis made it impossible for such an arbitrary institution to become dangerous, and a whole system of laws was gradually developed, by means of which this power was limited, so that it practically became one of the modes of legal punishment by the court. While it did not entirely lose its arbitrary character, since individuals were allowed to pronounce the ban of excommunication on particular occasions, it became chiefly a legal measure resorted to by a judicial court for certain prescribed offenses. Excommunication is a religious Censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community
Cherem in Tanakh
The Talmudic form of cherem must be distinguished from that described in the Tanakh in the time of Joshua and the early Hebrew monarchy, which was the practice of consecration by total annihilation at the command of God carried out against peoples such as the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the entire population of Jericho. See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is Joshua, Jehoshuah, or Yehoshua ( 'יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Tiberian: jə According to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, Amalek ( Arabic, عماليق, was the son of Eliphaz and the grandson of Jericho ( Arabic, ʼArīḥā; Hebrew, Standard Yəriḥo Tiberian Yərîḫô The neglect of Saul to carry out such a command as delivered by Samuel resulted in the selection of David as his replacement. Saul (שאול המלך (or Sha'ul) ( Arabic: طالوت,Tālūt ( (reigned 1047 - 1007 BCE is identified in the Books of Samuel, 1 Chronicles Samuel ( Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל, Standard Šəmuʼel Tiberian Šəmûʼēl) is an important
In the Talmud
The Talmud speaks of twenty-four offenses that, in theory, were punishable by a form of niddui excommunication. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Maimonides (as well as later authorities) enumerates the twenty-four as follows:
- insulting a learned man, even after his death;
- insulting a messenger of the court;
- calling an Israelite "slave";
- refusing to appear before the court at the appointed time;
- dealing lightly with any of the rabbinic or Mosaic precepts;
- refusing to abide by the decision of the court;
- keeping in one's possession an animal or an object that may prove injurious to others, such as a savage dog or a broken ladder;
- selling one's real estate to a non-Jew without assuming the responsibility for any injury that the non-Jew may cause his neighbors;
- testifying against one's Jewish neighbor in a non-Jewish court, through which the Jew is involved in a loss of money to which he would not have been condemned by a Jewish court;
- appropriation by a priest whose business is the selling of meat, of the priestly portions of all the animals for himself;
- violating the second day of a holiday, even though its observance is only a custom;
- performing work on the afternoon of the day preceding Passover;
- taking the name of God in vain;
- causing others to profane the name of God;
- causing others to eat holy meat outside of Jerusalem;
- making calculations for the calendar, and establishing festivals accordingly, outside of Israel;
- putting a stumbling-block in the way of the blind, that is to say, tempting one to sin (Lifnei iver);
- preventing the community from performing some religious act;
- selling forbidden ("terefah") meat as permitted meat ("kasher");
- omission by a "shohet" (ritual slaughterer) to show his knife to the rabbi for examination;
- masturbation
- engaging in business intercourse with one's divorced wife;
- being made the subject of scandal (in the case of a rabbi);
- excommunicating one unjustly. Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and Lifnei iver ( is one of the 613 mitzvot ( commandments) in Jewish law. Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, he כַּשְׁרוּת refers to Jewish dietary laws. Shechita ( Hebrew:he שחיטה is the Ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws.
For all practical purposes, most of these conditions no longer were considered as grounds for a ban since the end of the Talmudic era, around 600 CE. Events By Place World The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people
The niddui
The "niddui" ban was usually imposed for a period of seven days (in Israel thirty days). If inflicted on account of money matters, the offender was first publicly warned ("hatra'ah") three times, on Monday, Thursday, and Monday successively, at the regular service in the synagogue. During the period of niddui, no one except the members of his immediate household was permitted to associate with the offender, or to sit within four cubits of him, or to eat in his company. He was expected to go into mourning and to refrain from bathing, cutting his hair, and wearing shoes, and he had to observe all the laws that pertained to a mourner. He could not be counted in the number necessary for the performance of a public religious function. If he died, a stone was placed on his hearse, and the relatives were not obliged to observe the ceremonies customary at the death of a kinsman, such as the tearing of garments, etc. Bereavement in Judaism ( is a combination of Minhag (traditional custom and Mitzvot (good deeds or religious obligation derived from Judaism 's classical
It was in the power of the court to lessen or increase the severity of the niddui. The court might even reduce or increase the number of days, forbid all intercourse with the offender, and exclude his children from the schools and his wife from the synagogue, until he became humbled and willing to repent and obey the court's mandates. According to one opinion, the apprehension that the offender might leave the Jewish fold on account of the severity of the excommunication did not prevent the court from adding rigor to its punishments so as to maintain its dignity and authority (Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, 334, 1, Rama's gloss, citing Sefer Agudah). Rigour or rigor (see spelling differences) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse The Shulchan Aruch (שולחן ערוך literally " Set Table " (also Shulhan Aruch or Shulchan Arukh) is a Codification Yoreh De'ah is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher 's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law Arba'ah Turim. Moses Isserles is commonly known as "the Rema" ( Hebrew: רמ"א This article is about the literary term For other uses see Gloss (disambiguation. Alexander Susslein (d 1349 was a prominent 14th century rabbinic authority born in Erfurt, Germany. This opinion is vehemently contested by the Taz (ibid. David HaLevi Segal (דוד הלוי סגל (c 1586&ndash1667 also known as the Taz (he '''ט"ז''' or the Turei Zahav, was a prominent ), who cites earlier authorities of the same opinion (Maharshal; Maharam; Mahari Mintz) and presents proof of his position from the Talmud. Solomon Luria ( 1510 - November 7, 1574) ( Hebrew: שלמה לוריא) was one of the great Ashkenazic poskim Additionally, the Taz notes that his edition of the Sefer Agudah does not contain the cited position.
The cherem
If the offense was in reference to monetary matters, or if the punishment was inflicted by an individual, the laws were more lenient, the chief punishment being that men might not associate with the offender. At the expiration of the period the ban was raised by the court. If, however, the excommunicate showed no sign of penitence or remorse, the niddui might be renewed once and again, and finally the "cherem," the most rigorous form of excommunication, might be pronounced. This extended for an indefinite period, and no one was permitted to teach the offender or work for him, or benefit him in any way, except when he was in need of the bare necessities of life.
The nezifah
A milder form than either niddui or cherem was the "nezifah" ban. This ban generally only lasted one day. During this time the offender dared not appear before him whom he had displeased. He had to retire to his house, speak little, refrain from business and pleasure, and manifest his regret and remorse. He was not required, however, to separate himself from society, nor was he obliged to apologize to the man whom he had insulted; for his conduct on the day of nezifah was sufficient apology. But when a scholar or prominent man actually pronounced the formal niddui on one who had slighted him, all the laws of niddui applied. This procedure was, however, much discouraged by the sages, so that it was a matter of proper pride for a rabbi to be able to say that he had never pronounced the ban of excommunication. Maimonides concludes with these words the chapter on the laws of excommunication:(Mishneh Torah, Talmud Torah, vii. Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and The Mishneh Torah ( Hebrew: משנה תורה subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Chazaka (יד החזקה is a code of Jewish Religious law 13).
- "Although the power is given to the scholar to excommunicate a man who has slighted him, it is not praiseworthy for him to employ this means too frequently. He should rather shut his ears to the words of the ignorant and pay no attention to them, as Solomon, in his wisdom, said, 'Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken' (Eccl. vii. 21). This was the custom of the early pious men, who would not answer when they heard themselves insulted, but would forgive the insolent. . . . But this humility should be practised only when the insult occurs in private; when the scholar is publicly 'insulted, he dares not forgive; and if he forgive he should be punished, for then it is an insult to the Torah that he must revenge until the offender humbly apologizes"
Since the Enlightenment
Except in rare cases in the Haredi and Chassidic communities, cherem stopped existing after The Enlightenment, when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into the greater gentile nations in which they lived. Haredi or Chareidi Judaism is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. Hasidic Judaism (also Chasidic, etc from the Hebrew: he '''''חסידות''''', Chassidus, meaning "piety" from the Hebrew Haskalah ( Hebrew: השכלה "enlightenment" "education" from sekhel " Intellect " "mind") the Jewish Enlightenment
In 2004, however, the High Court of South Africa upheld a cherem against a Johannesburg businessman because he refused to pay his former wife alimony as ordered by a beth din. The High Court of South Africa is a Court of Law in South Africa. Johannesburg ( Pronounced /jō-hān'ĭs-bûrg'/ is the largest city in South Africa. Alimony, maintenance or spousal support is an obligation established by Law in many countries that is based on the premise that both spouses have an absolute A beth din, beit din or beis din ( Hebrew: בית דין "house of judgment" plural battei din) is a Rabbinical [1][2]
References
See also
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia 1901: Anathema
- Jewish Encyclopedia 1901: Ban
- South African High Court upholds Jewish right to pronounce cherem
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