חושן משפט ל"ד 5

28. If two witnesses testify about a person that he is disqualified based on one of these sins and two others come and testify that the person repented or received lashes, the individual is valid. If, however, two come and contradict the witnesses and say he never committed this sin and is not disqualified, the disqualification is in doubt. Therefore, he may not testify. We would not transfer money on the basis of his testimony and he may not judge until it is known that he repented. Two witnesses that testified about a person that he is invalid, such as where one said he stole and the second said he lent with interest, may combine together to disqualify him.

29. Anyone who is liable to receive lashes, once he receives the lashes in court, he returns to his valid state. With respect to other witness disqualifications that are due to money that was taken or stolen, however, even if he paid back, he must repent. He would remain disqualified until it is know that he has repented from his evil ways. When do we know a person repented from lending with interest? Once they tore up their documents on their own and made a full repentance and agreed not to lend with interest- even to a gentile. He must return any interest he took to its owners. If he doesn’t know who he took it from, he must perform public needs. There are those that say that this only applies to one who often committed theft or robberies. With respect to someone who only committed theft or robbery on occasion, however, as soon as he returns what he stole, he has repented. This is only where he returned it on his own. If, however, he only returned it because the court forced him to, his return will not help until he repents.

30. When does repentance for those that play with rocks occur? Once they break their stones and perform a complete repentance and commit not to play- even without money.

31. When does repentance for those that train birds occur? Once they break the vessels they use to trap the birds and perform a complete repentance and commit not to do trap again- even in the desert. There are those that say that both in this case and in the case of playing with rocks, they must return the profits they made.

32. When does repentance for those that deal in shmitah fruits occur? Once shmitah occurs and they refrain. They cannot just repent with words. They must write, “I so and so the son of so and so, gathered 200 zuz of shmitah fruits and I am giving them away as a gift to the poor.”

33. When does repentance of one that committed a sin with an oath occur? Once he comes to a court that does not recognize him and says “I am suspect” or when he is obligated to take an oath in a court that does not recognize him for a significant sum of money and he chooses to pay and not take the oath.

34. With respect to repentance of a butcher who supervised himself and a sold a treifah, he must wear black, cover himself in black and go to a place that is unfamiliar with him and return a lost item of significant value or get rid of a trefiah in his possession of a significant value. See Yoreh Deah Siman 119.

35. The repentance of an impeached witness is to go to a place that is unfamiliar with him, and they give him a significant amount of money to testify falsely and he does not want to.

1. The Disqualification of the Blind, Deaf, Foolish and Minors, 14 Seifim: Paragraph 1- A minor is disqualified from testifying, even if he was smart and wise, until he brings two hairs following his 13th birthday. If a long time passed from this 13th birthday before they had a chance to check for hairs and when they checked they found two hairs, he has the status of adult from the time he turned 13. If he had a full beard he does not require checking.

Paragraph 2- If one reaches the age of 20, has not yet brought two hairs and shows signs of being sterile, he is an adult and may testify. If he does not show signs of being sterile, he may not testify until most of his lifetime has passed.

Paragraph 3- If one is 13 years old and brings two hairs but is not familiar with commerce, his testimony is invalid for matters regarding land. With respect to movable items, however, his testimony is valid.

Paragraph 4- If one knows testimony while he was a minor and testifies as an adult, the testimony is of no effect. There are some matters, however, that we may rely on the testimony of an adult regarding things he witnessed as a child. These are such matters: He is believed to say this is my father’s, teacher’s or brother’s handwriting. There are those that say that he is only believed regarding these individuals, but not for anyone else.

Paragraph 5- He is also believed to say I remember that they treated the wife of so-and-so with the custom of a virgin when she got married. He is also believed to say this place was a place where a grave was plowed over.

Paragraph 6- He is also believed to say, (even if he is a solo witness) (Tur), we would go until here on Shabbos because the laws of techumim are rabbinical (Hagahos Alfasi). (The same applies to other rabbinical prohibitions). He is also believed to say that so-and-so left school so he could dip and eat terumah in the evening, that he shared the terumah with us, that the witness personally would bring challah and other priestly gifts to so-and-so the Kohen or that the witness’s father said this family is kosher and this family is not (or that they made some kind of sign to inform others that one member of the family married someone who was disqualified) (Tur, as will be explained in Even Haezer Siman 2).

Paragraph 7- If a gentile or slave testified on any of the above cases after he converted or was freed, he is not believed.

Paragraph 8- One who is insane is disqualified from testifying. An insane person is not just someone who walks around naked, breaks vessels and throws stones, (rather) it is anyone who goes out of his mind and his senses are consistently lacking on any matter, even though he can speak and act appropriately on other matters. Such a person is disqualified from testifying and is included in the category of the insane.

Paragraph 9- הנכפה (One who often collapses from a disease that drives him out of his mind), is disqualified from testifying while collapsed, but is valid while healthy. This is true whether he collapses from time to time or consistently collapses without any set time, so long as his senses are not always distorted because there are those that often collapse and are out of their mind even while healthy. We must extensively evaluate the testimony of one who collapses often.

Paragraph 10- Those that are very foolish and cannot recognize contradictory matters and do not understand topics that the rest of society does, and similarly those that frighten quickly and go out of their mind or are exceedingly crazy, are all included in the category of the insane. This topic is something that is dependent on the perception of the judge because it is impossible to explain these rules perfectly in writing.