Makkot 13 – When is the Penalty of Lashes Deserved

In general, a person is liable to lashes if he transgresses a negative commandment, is warned a short time before his transgression, and verbally accepts the consequences of his actions on himself. The total number of such prohibitions is 207. The following list contains novelty points, for example, even though the ones in the first group carry the penalty of being cut off from the people, and lashes still apply:

One who cohabits with his sister, aunt, his wife's sister, or with a woman who did not immerse herself in a mikveh. A High Priest who cohabits with a widow, or an ordinary kohen who cohabits with a divorcee. A ritually unclean person who eats sacrifices, or one who enters the Temple while unclean. One who eats chametz on Passover, or one who works on Yom Kippur. One who eats meat of any animal that was not slaughtered properly, and one who eats unkosher fish, birds, insects, reptiles, and rodents.

Art: Vincent Van Gogh - Two Rats