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.