The Torah chooses to teach us the great value of human dignity via the moment of man’s greatest humiliation. “When a man is legally sentenced to death and executed, you must then hang him on a gallows” (Deuteronomy 21:22). The Torah is not discussing a righteous person here, but a sinner. Furthermore, we are not dealing with a live individual, but the corpse that remains after death. What individual could be more deserving of humiliation than this? “He was like dust during his lifetime, what more so after his death.” Yet it is precisely via this undeserving corpse that the Torah chooses to teach us the great value of the dignity of man, God’s creation. “You may not allow his body to remain on the gallows overnight… since a person who has been hanged is a curse to God” (Ibid. 23).

Two explanations are given for this law in the Talmud. According to the majority of sages – and the law follows their understanding – only one who actually blasphemed God or performed idol worship is hanged. These two types of people are “a curse to God.” That is, through their behavior they showed negligence in their honor for God and disgraced Him. The publicizing of this sin by way of hanging the corpse on the gallows for an extender period of time – even if it is done so that all can hear and see – involves educational damage. The publicizing itself paradoxically lends legitimacy to the sin. The community must understand that it is inconceivable to insult the Creator in such a manner.

Surprisingly, Rashi does not make mention of this explanation in his Torah commentary, despite the fact that it is accepted as the law. Rather, he brings the opinion of Rabbi Meir who explains that, “all those stoned to death are hanged.” That is, all those who incur execution by stoning are hanged after their death. Regarding the prohibition against allowing the corpse to remain on the gallows overnight Rabbi Meir says, “This is comparable to identical twins, one of which became an important minister, while the other was caught as a bandit and hanged. All who saw him said, ‘The minister has been hanged!'” In other words, man – even when he sins and transgresses to the point where he becomes deserving of stoning by the courts – was created in God’s image. It is as if he is the “identical twin” of God. By offending the honor of man, one offends the honor of God.

The supercommontators of Rashi are baffled: Why did Rashi choose to mention the explanation that was not accepted as law? It appears that what brought Rashi to do this was a separate interpretation by the Sages that was accepted as law. According to that interpretation it is forbidden to hang any human being needlessly, and there is an obligation to give him the sort of respectable and honorable burial deserving of one created in God’s image.

Rabbi Azriel Ariel comments: “From this episode – which teaches us the importance of man’s dignity via the dignity of none other than a sinner – we are made aware of just how important man’s dignity is. If an ordinary individual had been the Torah’s subject of discussion, one might conclude that the obligation to honor such a person stems from his own merits. But a sinner? A transgressor? What dignity does he deserve? From this, we learn that it is not the personal merit of an individual that obligates us to honor him, but the honor of his Creator. There is an “obligation to honor” even when there is no “merit to honor.” For, the honor that we are dealing with is not that of man as a friend or neighbor, but the dignity of the creation of God, who “created man in His image and likeness.”

Prepared by Devorah Abenheim

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