Parshas Mishpatim - When is death not an atonement?

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (שמות כ"א י"ד)

וְכִי יָזִד אִישׁ עַל רֵעֵהוּ לְהָרְגוֹ בְעָרְמָה מֵעִם מִזְבְּחִי תִּקָּחֶנּוּ לָמוּת

“And if a man acts deliberately against his friend to kill him with deceit, from my mizbeach you should take him to die.”

The Mechilta comments on this passuk

רעהו, להוציא את אחרים. איסי בן עקביא אומר, קודם מתן תורה היינו מוזהרים על שפיכות דמים, לאחר מתן תורה תחת שהוחמרו הוקלו. באמת אמרו פטור מדיני בשר ודם ודינן מסיר לשמים.

The Meshach Chachmah translates the Mechilta as follows:

“The word רֵעֵהוּ indicates that a yisrael is only chayav misah for killing a yisrael.

איסי בן עקביא says, “How is it possible that after matan torah the halachah should be more lenient than it was before matan torah? [I.e., before matan torah, a yisrael would have been chayav misah for killing an eino yehudi, so how is it possible that after accepting the Torah, he is no longer chayav misah for doing the same aveirah?]

Rather the reason that a yisrael who kills an eino yehudi is not chayav misah is not because he has not committed murder (and so should be killed), but is because since after matan torah every one of the benei yisrael has a unique and important role to play in the general purpose of klal yisrael. Subsequrtly the public purposefulness of the life of the yisrael overrides the requirement for the termination of his life for killing the eino yehudi.

Therefore, since the yisrael is really chayav misah, except that practically speaking this sentence cannot be executed, he is patur bedinei adam and chayav bedinei shamayim.

• The Meshech Chachmah explains that when the Mechilta says ודינן מסיר לשמים, the Mechilta does not mean that the rotzeach will be killed biyedey shamayim (otherwise the Mechilta would have said that he is chayav misah biyedei shamayim), rather the Mechilta means that the rotzeach will be punished in his lifetime for his aveirah.
  
  Based on this understanding, the Meshech Chachmah asks that it appears that the Mechilta should have said that the eventual death of the rotzeach is the kapparah for his act of retzichah, since he really has a suspended death sentence?

The Meshech Chachmah answers as follows:

The Yerushalmi says in Bava Metzia (בבא מציעא ב', ה')

שמעון בן שטח הוה עסיק בהדא כיתנא, אמרין ליה תלמידוי רבי ארפי מינך ואנן זבנין לך חדא חמר ולית את לעי סוגין ואזלון זבנון ליה חדא חמר מחד סירקאי ותלי ביה חדא מרגלי, אתון לגביה אמרין ליה מן כדון לית את צריך לעי תובן, אמר לון למה, אמרין ליה זבנינן לך חד חמר מחד סירקיי ותלי ביה חדא מרגלי, אמר לון וידע בה מרה, אמרין ליה לא, א"ל לון איזל חזר, לא כן אמר רב הונא ביבי בר גוזלון בשם רב התיבון קומי רבי אפילו כמאן דמר גזילו של עכו"ם אסור כל עמא מודיי שאבידתו מותרת, מה אתון סברין שמעון בן שטח ברברין הוה בעי הוה שמעון בן שטח משמע בריך אלדדון דיהודאי מאגר כל הדין עלמא ויידא אמרה דא.

Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach was struggling in the flax business.

His students said, “Rebbi, abandon this business, and let us buy you a donkey, and you will not have to work so hard.”

They went and bought a donkey from a Sirikan, and they found that there was a jewel hanging in the matted hair on its neck. They returned to him happily, saying, “You’ll never have to work again!”

He asked them, “Why?”

They told him, “We purchased a donkey from a Sirikan and we found a jewel hanging round its neck!”

He asked them, “And did the owner know about it?”

They replied, “No.”

He said, “Go and return it to him.”

The gemara asks: But why should this be so? For in Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi’s time it was ruled that although stealing from goyim is forbidden, one may keep an item that a goy has lost. [So why did Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach not permit himself to benefit from the mistake?]

The gemara answers: “Do you think Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach is a barbarian? Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach would prefer to hear the words ‘Blessed be the G-d of the Jews’ (which is what the Sirikan said) than all the money in the world.”

It is evident from the gemara that the kiddush Hashem of dealing correctly with goyim overrides the kiddush Hashem of being able to learn Torah, for if not so, it would have been preferable for Rabbi Shimon Shetach to keep the jewel, which would have enabled him to work less and learn more.

Therefore we can understand the Mechilta as follows:

The reason that misah is mechaper, is because when the yisrael dies, it can now definitively be said that he lived a life of Torah and mitzvos, the kiddush Hashem of which statement outweighs any aveiros he may have done during his life.

In this case however, since the yisrael took the life of an eino yehudi, it would, on the contrary, be a chillul Hashem to say that the definition of his life as a shomer Torah u’mitzvos makes up for anything he did during his life, because one of the things he did during his life was to make the chillul Hashem of taking the life of an eino yehudi, and making a definitive statement of his worthiness would be a further chillul Hashem, as it would be a trivial abnegation of the chillul Hashem caused by his actions.

Therefore it is not possible for misah to be mechaper for the rotzeach, and he will be nidon be’yissurim during his own lifetime, in order to achieve a kapparah.