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penalty can only be judged by a twenty three member beis din and
kosher witnesses] in regard to the laws of the sanhedrin as set down
by the Torah. However, when it comes to direct judgment by the
ruler we do not require any of these conditions and under royal judg-
ment a person can be put to death by the testimony of his relatives,
or even on the basis of his own admission and without having been
warned. Because royal judgment is only carried out after ascertaining
the truth for otherwise, were we to conduct everything according to
Torah law, the world would be desolate because murderers and their
accomplices would abound...and whoever has been appointed by the
king to supervise this can judge and employ such measures with the
royal prerogative, because through such measures a king upholds law
and order in his country.” The Rashba permits handing over robbers
to the king so that he can put them to death, so that the world should
not become desolate. Thus, all the more so in our case where the
police will not kill him outright but will only interrogate him, is it
permitted to hand him over to them.

In the commentary Einei Yitzchak (on Ein Yaakov, Bava Metzia
ibid.) it is written, “Even though under Jewish law a robber is not
liable for the death penalty but only pays double the value of what
he stole, if a robber is found among the Jews he causes great hatred
of the Jewish people and they [the nations of the world] regard us as
thorns in their eyes. These robbers were therefore considered as rod-
fim (pursuers) of all of Israel and Chazal say, ‘Against he who comes
to kill you, arise early and kill him,’ and this is particularly so in regard
to individuals who act against the entire public.”

According to this view, the allowance to hand over Jewish robbers
to the authorities to be put to death only applies outside Eretz Yisrael
since the robber arouses great hatred of against all Jews. No proof
can be adduced though in regard to a robber in contemporary Eretz
Yisrael, whose actions do not arouse hatred towards Jews on the
part of the nations of the world. However, since the Rashba (above)
has established that were it not for the special measures enforced by
rulers the world would be laid waste [by criminals], it is permitted
even nowadays to hand a robber over to the authorities because of the

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