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Why does an individual who worships idols receive sekilah while an entire idolatrous city receives the lighter punishment of cherev? The shiur develops that ir haNidachas operates under wartime rules rather than judicial process. When a majority rebels against God, He responds with war — using the king's sword and including collateral damage.
The shiur examines the puzzling halacha (הלכה) of ir haNidachas (the condemned city), where a city with a majority practicing idolatry receives collective punishment by sword (cherev). This creates an apparent inconsistency: an individual idolater receives sekilah (the most severe capital punishment), while mass idolatry receives cherev (a lesser punishment in the gradation of capital offenses). Rabbi Zweig rejects the potential answer of group dynamics mitigating individual responsibility, noting that early practitioners before the majority threshold should still receive sekilah under such logic.
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Hilchos Avodah Zarah - Ir HaNidachas
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