Powtórzonego Prawa 13:17 Halacha: Mishneh Torah, Sheqel Dues, Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs, Mishneh Torah, Negative Mitzvot & Mishneh Torah, Positive Mitzvot

[In a case of] one who gives half a shekel from consecrated property [that he is holding], and the appropriation is made: Once some of it used, he is liable for misappropriation, and has fulfilled his obligation for the half shekel. [If] he gave it from monies of the second tithe – he must eat corresponding to [its value] in Jerusalem. [If he gave it] from monies of seventh-year [produce] – he must eat corresponding to [its value] with the [laws that apply to] the sanctity of the seventh year. [If it was] from a condemned city, he did not do anything.

How is the legal procedure against a seduced city instituted? When the information shows that it really deserves to have a pronouncement of a seduced city made against it, the Great Tribunal appoints a commission who investigate and take evidence until they are convinced by clear testimony that the whole, or a majority of the city was really seduced and turned to the worship of idolatry; thereafter two abecedarians are commissioned to warn them and to bring them back to the fold; if they turn and repent, it is well, but if they hold on to their evil, the tribunal instructs all Israel to wage war against them, and they lay siege and array battle with them until the city is broken open, whenafter courts are established and they are put on trial. Each one against whom two witnesses testified that he worshiped idolatry after he received a warning, is separated. If all those who did worship constitute but a minority of the citizens, they are stoned and the rest of the citizens escape punishment. If it be found that a majority worshiped idolatry, they are all taken before the Great Tribunal, where their trial is finished, and all those who are found guilty of having worshiped idolatry are put to death by the sword. If the whole population of the city worshiped idolatry, all of them, women and children included, are put to death by the edge of the sword. Whether the entire city was seduced, or whether only a majority thereof, its seducers are stoned, and its entire booty is gathered in its main street. If it has no such street, it is mandatory to construct such street. If its street was without its boundary-line, a wall should be constructed beyond it, so as to incorporate it within its boundary-line, even as it is said: "Into the midst of the broad place thereof" (Deut. 13.17). Then, everything that liveth should be put to death, and all of its spoil, together with the property of the whole district should be burned in fire. And it is mandatory to burn it; for, it is said: "And shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof" (Ibid.)¹⁰Maimonides supports the Sifre (Deut. 13.) and Rabbi Eliezar (Sanhedrin, 44a) against Rabbi Akiba, in deciding that children of the wicked are destroyed. Any one studying these chapters will see that the purpose of the law was to serve a warning, and both the Sifre and Rabbi Eliezar had the support of history, (Num. 16) Korah and Jabesh-Gilead (I. Samuel, 11.1) to their contention. Knowing what punishment there is in store for them and their children, the possibility of a city becoming a seduced city was very remote, and the fact that almost fourteen centuries of national life in Palestine did not produce a single instance where the necessity of making this law operative is in itself evidence that the prescribed severity, as interpreted by Maimonides had a great deal to do with it. C.G.

If the witness against a seduced city were impeached, whosoever held possession of any of its property enjoys right of ownership thereto, seeing that there was no testimony to destroy it. But wherefore does one acquire the right of property therein? Because after the testimony was given and sentenced pronounced each and every inhabitant yielded his right to his property and rendered it ownerless. A seduced city is never rebuilt, and whosoever rebuilds it is lashed; for, it is said: "It shall not be built again" (Deut. 13.17.); but in its place it is permitted to lay out gardens and plant vineyards, as the Verse says, "it shall not be built again", which means not to rebuild it as a settlement of people as it was heretofore.¹²Keritot, 24b; Sanhedrin, 112a. C.