Thou Shalt Not Murder

Parshat Yitro

by Rabbi Avi Billet

A civil society in which life is sacrosanct frowns upon the act of murder. It is a heinous crime to rob another person of life itself. In the United States different states have different punishments in place for murderers, usually ranging from prison sentences to a ticket to death row.

And yet, not all acts that bring about death are considered “murder.” Certainly a distinction is made between a car accident or some other tragic accident, and a deliberate murder. Even in “crimes” of this nature, the law distinguishes between murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, wrongful death, etc. There are other categories as well.

The legal terminology is learned by those who are in the predicament of being charged with the death of another, and the distinctions between the different circumstances has its own basis in the halachic and Biblical terminology.



Many of the commentaries distinguish between “R’tzichah” (murder) and “Harigah” (killing) or “Misah/Mitah” (causing death).

In the Decalogue it is deliberate murder which is forbidden by “Lo Tirzach,” a commandment which is noted as a principle for humanity in Bereshit 9:6, and is also broken down into specifics in Shmot 21:12-14. In the Shmot example, the first two of the three verses noted refer to a case in which the death happened as the result of a fight (in which injury was the intent) or an accident (perhaps careless), while 21:14 refers to a plot to kill. When there was no plot to kill, Devarim 4:42 and 19:4 speak of the of the death as a “rtzicha,” at the same time that the Torah declares the person is to run to an Ir Miklat (city of refuge). [Rashbam on Shmot 20:13 explains why this term is used here.]

On the other hand, there is killing which is completely justified in the Torah, such as in a Commanded War (Milchemet Mitzvah) (see Bamidbar 31), or in the case of a Ba Bamachteret, a self-defense situation in which an intruder enters one’s home and the homeowner kills him, perhaps without even asking any questions. (Shmot 22:1) In this latter case, the Torah describes the alleged “victim” (the criminal, as it were) as a person who “has no blood.” (Alternatively, the phrase “ein lo damim” could refer to the homeowner who “bears no blood guilt”) Once he made the choice to invade the home, the Torah considers him already dead because he had no right to be there. Killing him is akin to shooting a corpse – which might not be very polite, but it does not make you a murderer.

And of course, while the Talmud claims it was not common, certainly the way the Torah describes death as a punishment meted out by the court is justified as well.

The commandment of “Lo Tirzach” is therefore not an injunction against taking someone else’s life at all. In any self-defense situation, the Torah would not hold the one claiming self-defense to any culpability – it’s my life or yours (the one intent on killing me), and in the Talmud’s equation of this, my life is more important. No questions asked.

Does the commandment in the Decalogue include anything else, beyond the injunction not to deliberately plot and take someone’s life?

Both the Ibn Ezra and Chizkuni write that “Lo Tirzach” is a law against killing with your hand or your tongue. In other words, don’t give false testimony that might kill someone, or give bad advice that will cause a person’s death. Additionally, if you have a secret that that can save the person from death if only you reveal it, and you refrain from doing so – you are a murderer.

Most of us will not have the opportunity (or utilize the chance) to murder someone with our hands or with a weapon. Thank God. And yet, according to this interpretation, many of us are in a sense guilty of “Lo Tirzach” on a regular basis. We are either guilty of character assassination through our Lashon Hora violations, or we do not utilize information we have of someone’s positive qualities in gossip situations, to shed a very positive light about a victim of Lashon Hora.

The “Ten Commandments” is revered by people of many faiths. For the Jewish people, who introduced them to the world, we have the responsibility to model all the possibilities of avoidance of “Lo Tirzach” in our daily lives.

It is very easy to say “I have never murdered someone.”

Is it as easy to say the same about the additional meanings of “Lo Tirzach?” No it is not.

Our responsibility to “Lo Tirzach” is to protect others by only sharing information about them that serves a purpose, with people who need that information, and who understand what the purpose is. Beyond that, Lashon Hora is a stain on our people, that in its own way, is a form of inexcusable murder.