According the Talmud, depending on the crime, execution is performed by one of three different parties: by the court, by vigilantes or by God. For the last several pages, the Gemara has been examining the occasionally slippery relationship between violations that merit death in these different manners. Today’s Gemara cites a lengthy tannaitic source on this subject:

And these are they who are liable to receive death at the hand of Heaven: One who partakes of untithed produce, and a ritually impure priest who partook of ritually pure terumah, and a non-priest who partook of terumah, and a non-priest who performed the Temple service, and a ritually impure priest who performed the Temple service, and a priest who was ritually impure who immersed that day and is waiting for nightfall for the purification process to be completed who performed the Temple service, and a priest lacking the requisite priestly vestments, and a priest who has not yet brought an atonement offering to complete his purification process as a leper or zav (someone who had a discharge that rendered them impure), and a priest who did not wash his hands and feet before beginning the Temple service, and priests who performed the Temple service while intoxicated with wine, and priests who performed the Temple service with overgrown hair on their heads.

This is a rather extensive list of those transgressions for which the one is liable for death at the hand of Heaven. These violations are all within the realm of things related to the priestly roles — either the incorrect consumption of terumah (the agricultural tithe reserved for priests) or incorrect performance of the Temple service, likely because one is not properly purified or is in some other way unfit to do it (perhaps drunk or inappropriately attired). The text goes on to relay violations incurring a less severe punishment:

But a priest who performs the Temple service while uncircumcised or as an acute mourner, or a priest who performs the Temple service while seated, are not punished with death at the hand of Heaven. Rather, they are liable for violating a prohibition (and receive lashes) …

The Gemara goes on to explain how each of these many rulings is derived; while in some cases the verse explicitly states that such a violator is punished with death, in other cases the ruling must be learned from a textual derivation. The derivations are indicative of the role this heavenly punishment plays in the rabbis’ minds. On the one hand, it’s not an invented category — there are transgressions mentioned in the Hebrew Bible that seem to suggest violation will “naturally” result in death without human interference. But when choosing how to extend their understanding of this punishment, the rabbis apply it largely to priestly ritual matters. This is perhaps motivated by Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aaron the high priest who were struck down by God for offering a “strange fire” on the altar. They are perhaps our clearest case in the Torah of people killed by God as a punishment for a violation.

Read all of Sanhedrin 83 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 10, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.