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Siman 157 — For which transgressions one is killed rather than transgress

על איזה עבירות יהרג ואל יעבור

Three seifim. The preceding simanim governed ordinary contact with the non-Jew; this one moves to the extreme alternative, and organises it by three dials and three exceptions
Structured revision, tables, quick memorisation

Source: Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah קנ״ז — 3 seifim
Nosei kelim: ש״ך (19 ס״ק) · ט״ז (11 ס״ק) · באר היטב (15 ס״ק) · פתחי תשובה (18 ס״ק) · בית יוסף · טור · רמב״ם הלכות יסודי התורה פרק ה׳
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
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📑 Plan of the synthesis

The axiom: the siman does not weigh the sin, it weighs what the act is and what it means
The 4 reflex questions
Master table — the three seifim, one line each
The three transgressions, and why nothing lightens them
The three dials, and what each one governs
The disputes of the siman
The 5 golden rules
Mnemonic — the aid “אנוס”
The 5 classic pitfalls
Final flash card

1. The axiom: the siman does not weigh the sin, it weighs what the act is and what it means

The siman never asks “how grave is the sin.” It asks two things: is this act among those that are not done, and what does it say to those who see it. The same transgression — eating the forbidden, breaking Shabbat, removing one’s tefillin — is permitted under compulsion in private and forbidden at the price of life before ten. It is permitted if the persecutor wants the thing and forbidden if he wants the apostasy. It is permitted in ordinary times and forbidden at the hour of the decree. None of this depends on the sin: it all depends on what the act means.

The clearest proof is the example the Gemara chooses. It does not take a grave transgression: it takes a shoe-strap, that is, something that is not even a commandment.

« אֲפִילּוּ שֶׁלֹּא בִּשְׁעַת הַשְּׁמָד, לֹא אָמְרוּ אֶלָּא בְּצִינְעָא, אֲבָל בְּפַרְהֶסְיָא אֲפִילּוּ מִצְוָה קַלָּה – יֵהָרֵג וְאַל יַעֲבוֹר » (סנהדרין ע״ד ע״א)

« אֲפִילּוּ לְשַׁנּוֹיֵי עַרְקְתָא דִּמְסָאנָא » (סנהדרין ע״ד ע״ב)

And the reciprocal exception confirms it from the other side: the three transgressions admit none of these dials, because they are not forbidden as a desecration of the Name but for their own gravity.

« דטעמא משום דהני לאו משום חלול השם הוא דאסירי אלא מפני חומר עצמן הלכך בכל ענין אסירי » (בית יוסף יו״ד קנ״ז)

2. The 4 reflex questions

Is it one of the three? Idolatry, forbidden unions, the shedding of blood — or what borders them. If so, none of the following questions arise; if not, all of them do.
How many Jews will know? Fewer than ten is צינעה; ten or more is פרהסיא — and the Shakh at ס״ק ד specifies that knowing suffices, without being present.
What does the one who compels want? The abandonment of the religion, or the thing itself. This dial comes from Rava’s answer about Esther, and it operates only outside the three.
Which hour, and which kind of commandment? A שעת הגזרה — aimed at Israel alone, per the Shakh at ס״ק ו — hardens everything; and a positive commandment is outside the rule, per the Rama’s gloss.

3. Master table — the three seifim, one line each

Seif	The Mehaber	The Rama	The nosei kelim
א	The rule, its three exceptions, and the three dials	Money, the positive mitzvah, doing and undergoing, אביזרייהו, the handing over of a man, the standing of one who transgressed	Shakh ס״ק א–ט״ו · Taz ס״ק א–ט׳ · Pit’hei Teshuva ס״ק א–י״ז
ב	One does not say one is an idolater; one may change one’s dress	Kilayim, the double-meaning phrase, the deception — and “only in a place of danger”	Shakh ס״ק ט״ז–י״ט · Taz ס״ק י׳ · Pit’hei Teshuva ס״ק י״ח
ג	One liable to death may flee into a house of worship	At the hour of the decree some forbid it; and see siman ק״נ · 150	Taz ס״ק י״א — two reasons, and the reference to siman קנ״ה · 155

4. The three transgressions, and why nothing lightens them

עבודת כוכבים — even in private, even outside a decree, even if the persecutor wants only his own benefit. The verse is ובכל נפשך.

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גילוי עריות — by the juxtaposition with the נערה המאורסה. Two bounds: one acted upon without acting, and the case the Rama removes from the category.

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שפיכות דמים — and here there is no verse but a reasoning, which gives it its widest reach.

« לִקְטְלוּךָ וְלָא תִּיקְטוֹל. מִי יֵימַר דִּדְמָא דִּידָךְ סוּמָּק טְפֵי? דִּילְמָא דְּמָא דְּהוּא גַּבְרָא סוּמָּק טְפֵי » (סנהדרין ע״ד ע״א)

It is this sevarah — and not a verse — that governs the clause on handing over a man in the Rama’s gloss, where no one asks anyone to kill. A reasoning holds wherever there are two lives; a verse holds only where it speaks.

5. The three dials, and what each one governs

The dial	Its measure	What it changes	Source
צינעה / פרהסיא	Ten Jews who know	Flips any ordinary transgression	סנהדרין ע״ד ע״ב · ש״ך ס״ק ד · פתחי תשובה ס״ק ז
להעבירו על דת / להנאתו	What the persecutor seeks	Absent an intent of apostasy, the rule does not apply outside the three	סנהדרין ע״ד ע״ב · רמ״א יו״ד קנ״ז:א · ש״ך ס״ק ב
שעת הגזרה	A decree aimed at Israel alone	Extends severity to a mere custom — but only in a לא תעשה	סנהדרין ע״ד ע״א · רמב״ם הלכות יסודי התורה פרק ה׳ הלכה ג · ש״ך ס״ק ו
עשה / לא תעשה	A fulfilment prevented, or an act committed	The positive leaves the rule — and money follows the same division	רמ״א יו״ד קנ״ז:א · ט״ז ס״ק ד · ש״ך ס״ק ג
מעשה / קרקע עולם	Author of the act, or object	The only bound that operates inside the three	סנהדרין ע״ד ע״ב · רמ״א יו״ד קנ״ז:א · ש״ך ס״ק ט

6. The disputes of the siman

On what	Position A	Position B	What is presented here
Letting oneself be killed where the law says to transgress	Mehaber: רשאי	Rambam, and the Ba’ch after him: מתחייב בנפשו	Shakh ס״ק א: the dispute stands, and one instructs according to the case
Being stringent when the persecutor wants only his benefit	Rabbenu Yeruham: forbidden, חובל בעצמו	Perishah: in public he may	Shakh ס״ק ב: when the hour requires it, all concede
Does the hour of the decree cancel the dial of intent?	Ba’ch: yes — even for his own benefit, יהרג ואל יעבור	Shakh ס״ק ז and Taz ס״ק ג: no	Two distinct answers: the Taz from the Rambam’s wording, the Shakh from ספק נפשות להקל
לא תקרבו est-il un vrai לא תעשה ?	Rambam: yes, and one is flogged for it	Ramban, in his Hasagot: no	Shakh ס״ק י: like the Rambam — but only דרך חיבת ביאה
A non-Jew coming upon a daughter of Israel	Rama, after the Ramban: outside the category	Rabbenu Tam: even a married woman	Shakh ס״ק י״ד: only an unmarried woman; and that is not the view of all the decisors
Handing over the man singled out	Rabbi Yohanan: even if he is not liable to death	Resh Lakish, and the Rambam with him: only if he is	Taz ס״ק ז: like Resh Lakish — and in any case ואין מורין להם כן לכתחלה
A woman already profaned, when she is demanded	Rashba, via the Maggid Mishneh: she is not handed over	Dagul MeRevava, from the Yerushalmi: it appears she is handed over	Pit’hei Teshuva ס״ק ט״ז brings both and refers to the Noda BiYehuda

7. The 5 golden rules

The rule is leniency, and the three are the exception. The starting point is וחי בהם; all the rest is a restriction of that starting point.
No dial operates inside the three — except one: the one that distinguishes the author of the act from the one it is done to.
“All that he has” applies only to a negative commandment. For a positive one, the Shakh at ס״ק ג refers to a fifth.
A general measure is not a שעת הגזרה. The Shakh at ס״ק ו requires that it target Israel as such.
One who transgressed under compulsion is exempt — and the only condition the gloss sets is that he could not have fled.

8. Mnemonic — the aid “אנוס”

The four letters of אנוס — “the one compelled” — give the four questions of the siman, in the order in which it asks them.

א — איזו עבירה · one of the three, or another?
נ — נוכחות · will ten Jews know?
ו — וכוונת האנס · apostasy, or his own benefit?
ס — סוג המצוה והשעה · negative or positive; ordinary hour or decree?

The word itself is the siman’s last teaching: one who transgressed under compulsion is called אנוס, and he is exempt.

9. The 5 classic pitfalls

Thinking the siman speaks of the gravity of sins. It speaks of the meaning of acts. The shoe-strap is the proof: it is not even a mitzvah, and one dies over it.
Taking “in public” to mean “before witnesses.” The Shakh at ס״ק ד writes expressly that it is enough that the ten know.
Thinking the rule of the three applies also when one is passive. The Rama’s gloss excludes it in a single clause — and it is the only leniency inside the three.
Turning the Rama’s second view on the man singled out into a procedure. The Rambam writes ואין מורין להם כן לכתחלה, and the Shakh at ס״ק ט״ו adds the duty to exhaust every side.
Thinking seif 2 permits lying about oneself. It permits not being recognised; it expressly forbids saying what one is not — and it permits nothing at all outside a place of danger.

10. Final flash card

Three seifim, three exceptions, four dials. Is it one of the three (א)? If not: will ten know, what does the persecutor want, which hour, and which kind of commandment (א)? Then two seifim step away from the alternative: what one may say and wear so as not to be placed there (ב), and where one may flee (ג).

Three things to take away. The siman contains as many limits upon stringency as demands — the fifth, the lenient doubt, the exemption of the compelled. The only dispute it leaves open in its own text is that of the man singled out, and the Rambam attaches to it a clause that forbids making it a rule. And none of this carries from one situation to another without a Rav.