Joodse traditie als permanent leren

192.

7. 9 If one does not know who it was that imposed the ban upon him, he should go to the Nasi and he will release him from the ban.

7. 10 A ban that is conditional, even if self-imposed, requires annulment. A scholar who excommunicated himself, may himself annul the ban, even when he had added to it the clause, "According to the view of So-and-so", and even though the excommunication was for a transgression for which he had incurred that penalty.

7. 11 A man who dreamt that he had been excommunicated, even if he knows who it was that had (in his dream) excommunicated him, requires ten men who study Halachoth (legal rules) to release him from the ban. If he does not find them, he must go as far as a Parsah (four mils) to seek them. If he fails to find ten men with these qualifications, ten men who study Mishna may release him. Failing these, he may be released by ten who can read Scriptures. If such are not accessible, he may be released by ten men even if they are unable to read Scripture. If he cannot find ten men in his locality, three individuals may release him.

7. 12 If the ban was imposed on a person in his presence, it can only be removed in his presence. If it was imposed in his absence, it may be removed in his presence or absence. No interval of time need elapse between the imposition of a ban and its annulment, but the pronouncement of a ban may be immediately followed by its removal if the individual under the ban reforms. The Court may, at its discretion, leave a man under the ban for many years, according to the extent of his wickedness. If the Court see fit straightway to impose upon a person the Cherem (severer ban), and the same ban on any one who eats or drinks with him or stays near him within the distance of four cubits, they may do so in order to punish the offender and build a fence round the Torah, so that sinners shall not break bounds. Although a Chacham has the right to pronounce the ban to safeguard his honour, it is not creditable for a scholar to accustom himself to this procedure. He should rather close his ears to remarks of the illiterate and take no notice of them, as Solomon, in his wisdom, said "Also pay not heed to all the words that are spoken"(Eccles. 7:21). Such too, was the way of the ancient saints. They heard them