Certain Torah violations are punishable by execution – either Sekila (stoning), Serefa (burning), Sayif (death by sword), or Henek (strangulation). The Sefer Ha’hinuch lists each form of execution as a separate Misvat Aseh, an affirmative command requiring Bet Din to administer the given form of punishment. According to the Sefer Ha’hinuch’s listing, Henek is the 47th Biblical command.
The Sefer Ha’hinuch explains that capital punishment is necessary as a deterrent against grievous sins. If there was no fear of punishment, then people would kill one another and commit other grave violations, and so the Torah commands Bet Din to put to death those who have been convicted of severe misdeeds.
Six sins are punishable by Henek: an adulterous relationship with a married woman, kidnapping, inflicting a wound in one’s father or mother, Zaken Mamreh (a scholar who opposes the majority view of the Sanhedrin), prophesying in the name of a foreign deity, prophesying falsely in G-d’s Name.
Surprisingly, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that murder is also punishable by Henek, despite the fact that the Gemara explicitly states that murder is punishable by Sayif (death by the sword). This question was noted by the Minhat Hinuch, who leaves it unanswered. Indeed, it is very difficult to explain the basis of the Sefer Ha’hinuch’s comment. In any event, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that Henek is the swiftest form of execution, and it is administered to murderers because they generally kill their victim swiftly, in order to avoid being caught. Other violations, which are committed more slowly, are punishable by other forms of execution, which cause death to occur more gradually.
Another difficulty in the Sefer Ha’hinuch’s discussion of Henek is his comment that capital punishment is administered only in Eretz Yisrael. The Minhat Hinuch noted that the Gemara in Masechet Makkot states that capital punishment is administered anywhere, even outside the Land of Israel, as long as the Bet Ha’mikdash stands and the Sanhedrin meets in the Lishkat Ha’gazit (its special chamber in the area of the Bet Ha’mikdash). It is thus very difficult to understand why the Sefer Ha’hinuch wrote that capital punishment is limited to Eretz Yisrael.
No Beracha is recited over the fulfillment of this Misva, and the commentaries explain that this is because G-d does not wish for violators to be executed. As the verse in Yehezkel (33:11) says, “I do not desire the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked repents from his path and lives.” The Gemara teaches in Masechet Hagiga that when a sinner suffers as punishment for his wrongdoing, G-d Himself is pained, as it were, because of His love for all people, even sinners. Therefore, since punishing sinners brings distress to the Almighty, so-to-speak, no Beracha is recited when administering punishment, even though it fulfills a Torah command.
Similarly, Tosafot comment in Masechet Megilla (31) that no Beracha is recited over the reading of the Tocheha – the sections of the Torah warning of the calamities which Hashem threatens to bring upon the nation for betraying Him. When the Tocheha is read in the synagogue, the Aliya begins several verses before the Tocheha, and ends only after the Tocheha, so that the person receiving the Aliya does not recite a Beracha over these curses. G-d is pained, so-to-speak, by having to issue these warnings, and so it would be inappropriate to recite a Beracha over this section.
The Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that if Bet Din had the authority and ability to execute an offender and failed to do so, then they are in violation of this command. He emphasizes that the one who fails to fulfill this command is deserving of punishment, because without a functioning system of justice, people will not be deterred from perpetrating evil, resulting in anarchy.
It should be noted that whereas the Sefer Ha’hinuch lists capital punishment as four separate Biblical commands, the Ramban maintained that all four forms of capital punishment are included in a single command. The Ramban cites the command mentioned several times in the Torah, “U’bi’arta Ha’ra Mi’kirbecha” – “You shall eliminate the evil from your midst,” and explains that in his view, this command requires Bet Din to execute those guilty of capital offenses.
Of course, this command does not apply nowadays. However, the Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin teaches that when Bet Din does not have the authority to execute offenders, G-d arranges that those deserving of capital punishment will die in a manner resembling the type of execution that they deserve.