Q:
The Rav has said here many times that murderers have to be executed. Then why is it that the Sanhedrin so rarely killed a murderer?
A:
The Sanhedrin was like a Beis Hamikdash. They did everything with a certain procedure in the Sanhedrin, and if the procedure was not perfect, they didn’t do it. If there’s a flaw in the procedure, they can’t sentence the murderer to death. But when the Sanhedrin doesn’t sentence him, he doesn’t get away with it, don’t worry about that. Because that’s when the king takes over. The king enforces law and order and he does what he has to do to make sure the murderer doesn’t get away with it.
The king takes care of it; nobody gets away with murder. Suppose there was a technicality, and we can’t kill him because of this technicality. So the Sanhedrin says, “We follow certain procedures and these procedures don’t permit us to kill him when there’s a flaw in the procedure.” So they say to the king, “Take care of him. It’s your job.” And the king takes care of him. Don’t worry! The murderers didn’t get away with anything with Am Yisroel in the olden days. The Jews were a wise people and murderers didn’t get away with anything. The kings took care of the murderers.
TAPE # E-217
