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society – for appointing a king whereas there is a special and greater
need for appointing judges in Yisrael, as the Torah mentions further,
saying, ‘And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment’
(ibid. passuk 19), meaning that judges are appointed and empowered
in order that they should judge the people in regard to [the Torah’s]
laws, which are inherently righteous.”

In light of these comments of the Rashba and the Ran, the Chavos
Yair’s conclusion (146, above) that it is possibly a mitzvah to save the
head of the bandits and robbers from death, is astonishing. Since
it is even permitted to inform on them and hand them over to the
authorities [though pious individuals should not do so], all the more
so should there be no mitzvah to save them from the authorities who
want to punish them.

Perhaps one can answer that the comments of the Rashba and the
Ran refer to a situation in which the country will be ruined if thieves
are not put to death. Therefore, since the king’s judgment is appro-
priate and is necessary for the country, it has force even in Torah law.
This was not the case in the time of the Chavos Yair, when the death
sentence was based upon disregard for the Jewish thief ’s life and not
on the presumption that society would break down [if thieves were
left alive]. In such a situation there is certainly an obligation to save
the robber.

Another way to reconcile the Chavos Yair’s ruling is based on the
commentsof theBenYehoyada,whowritesthatRabbiElazarbarRabbi
Shimon handed the robbers over to the authorities after he recognized
from their faces that they resembled thorns, containing not the slight-
est trace of good, and none of them would bring any worthy offspring
to the world. From the holy Zohar it is known that Rabbi Elazar bar
Rabbi Shimon could recognize a person’s nature from his face, on the
level of a prophet and similar to Moshe Rabbenu of whom it is said,
“He looked this way and that way and saw that there was no one”
(Shemos, 2:12), which the Sages (Yalkut Shimoni, 167) expound as
meaning that he saw through prophecy that no worthy offspring
would come from that Egyptian. Rabbi Elazar therefore responded,
“I am destroying the thorns from the vineyard,” meaning that he was

404 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein