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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 rodfim (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, in our case, which concerns a country other than Eretz Yisrael,
where hatred of Jews may be stirred up if the physician doesn’t hand
the murderer over, it is possible that he is allowed to hand him over.

See also the Ritva (Bava Metzia ibid.) who writes: “As to Rabbi
Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon who judged capital crimes without wit-
nesses and without prior warning, at a time when there was no San-
hedrin, this was because he was acting as the emissary of the ruler,
according to whose laws the death penalty could be imposed without
witnesses or warning, in order to chastise society. We find similarly
that David Hamelech killed the Amalekite ger (convert) [for killing
Shaul Hamelech and did so without witnesses or warning] (Shmuel
II, 1:15) and the king’s emissary is considered like the king himself.”
The Ritva concludes, “In any event, wherever the king is not licensed
to do so [i.e. to hang robbers] by virtue of his royal powers, neither
is his representative authorized to do so and should the king instruct
him to do so he should allow himself be killed rather than transgress.”
According to the Ritva too, it is possibly permitted to hand him over
because such are the powers of the government.

However, this case may differ from the above discussion for it can
be argued that the comments of the Rashba etc. would apply only to
a repetitive murderer who endangers the public if he is not handed
over to the authorities. In our case though, where he did not make a
practice of murdering and this was a one-time incident, there may be
no license to hand him over to the authorities if they will put him to
death.

If the authorities will not kill the murderer but just sentence him
to life imprisonment, it seems clearer that he can be handed him over
so that he shouldn’t continue his evil ways. Even if they were to sever

306 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein