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Does raising your hand to threaten someone violate the Torah (תורה)'s prohibition against hitting, or is it merely wicked behavior? The shiur analyzes Targum Yonasan ben Uziel's interpretation that the fortieth lash is an assault gesture (kamatzef), not actual contact. This suggests assault may carry the same halachic status as battery, with major implications for teshuvah and chinuch.
Rabbi Zweig examines the Torah (תורה)'s requirement to give the wicked person forty lashes (malkus), noting that in practice only thirty-nine are administered. The Rosh explains this as the Torah speaking in round numbers, a common principle where the Sages interpret the precise number differently than the literal text suggests. Targum Yonasan ben Uziel offers a fascinating alternative: thirty-nine actual lashes are given, but the fortieth is kamatzef—a threatening gesture, as if to strike. This creates forty total actions: thirty-nine batteries and one assault. The shiur explores the conceptual distinction between battery (actual hitting) and assault (threatening to hit) in both secular and Torah law.
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Parshas Mishpatim (malkus/lo yosef) and Parshas Shemos (kol hameirim yad)
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