''Tinok shenishba'' (Hebrew: תינוק שנשבה, literally, "captured infant") is a

talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

ical term that refers to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

who sins inadvertently as a result of having been raised without an appreciation for the thought and practices of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. Its status is widely applied in contemporary

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

to unaffiliated Jews today.

Terminology

''Tinok shenishba'' is short for ''Tinok shenishba bein hanochrim'', which translates as, "An infant captured nd consequently raisedamong

gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

s." This is a case where the individual in question is not responsible for his actions and sins due to his being raised in a place or situation where the Jewish law is unknown to him. An individual doesn't literally have to have been "captured" as an infant to fall within the definition of a ''tinok shenishba'' but rather, even if the child were raised without religious guidance it would be considered ''tinok shenishba.''

Application in Jewish law

Because a ''tinok shenishba'' was not raised with proper guidance towards appreciation of Jewish life, law, and ritual, they are not accountable for not living in accordance with the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

. If this Jew would encounter and re-find his Jewish brothers and their Torah, he must be welcomed back and taught the correct way to live life as a Jew.

Codification in the Talmud

The concept of ''tinok shenishba'' is first mentioned in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

. In

Shevu'ot Shevu'ot or Shevuot (Hebrew: שבועות, "Oaths") is a book of the Mishnah and Talmud. It is the sixth volume of the book of Nezikin. Shevu'ot deals primarily with the laws of oaths in halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also tra ...

5a, the

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...

states that responsibility for inadvertent transgression is only placed upon an individual who knew the correct law at two points in time (before the transgression and the remembrance after the transgression) and forgot the law sometime in between. If that individual knew the law and subsequently forgot the law, and never again remembered or received a reminder, they would be an unwitting transgressor. Similarly, if an individual never knew the law in the first place, and subsequently learned the law, they would also be an unwitting transgressor. This latter example would fall under the category of a ''tinok shenishba''. In

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

68b, there is a dispute between

Abba Arikha Abba Arikha (175–247 CE; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ; born: ''Rav Abba bar Aybo'', ), commonly known as Rav (), was a Jewish amora of the 3rd century. He was born and lived in Kafri, Asoristan, in the Sasanian Empire. Abba Arikha establishe ...

and

Samuel of Nehardea Samuel of Nehardea or Samuel bar Abba, often simply called Samuel (Hebrew: שמואל) and occasionally Mar Samuel, was a Jewish Amora of the first generation; son of Abba bar Abba and head of the Yeshiva at Nehardea, Babylonia. He was a teacher ...

on one side, and

Yochanan bar Nafcha :''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''. Johanan bar Nappaha ( he, יוחנן בר נפחא Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa; alt. sp. Napaḥa) (also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan, or as Johanan bar Nafcha) (lived 180-279 CE) was a leading r ...

and

Shimon ben Lakish Shim‘on ben Lakish ( he, שמעון בן לקיש; arc, שמעון בר לקיש ''Shim‘on bar Lakish'' or ''bar Lakisha''), better known by his nickname Reish Lakish (c. 200 — c. 275), was an amora who lived in the Roman province of Juda ...

on the other, regarding in what type of situations a ''tinok shenishba'' (or a convert who was similarly raised among gentiles) is responsible for punishment and/or

repentance Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better. In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...

along with the offering of

animal sacrifices Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spr ...

in the

Holy Temple The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jer ...

upon transgression of the laws of

and their subsequent return to Judaism. The ''halacha'' follows that a ''tinok shenishba'' would only be required to do one act of repentance for their multiple violations of the law, because all the violations stemmed from a single instance of not knowing the proper laws to obey.

Practical relevance in the modern era

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

speaks out strongly against those who deny the validity of the

Oral Torah According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law ( he, , Tōrā šebbəʿal-pe}) are those purported laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah ( he, , Tōrā šebbīḵ� ...

, including the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

and the Talmud, labeling them as

heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. This would include

Karaite Jews Karaite Judaism () or Karaism (, sometimes spelt Karaitism (; ''Yahadut Qara'it''); also spelt Qaraite Judaism, Qaraism or Qaraitism) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme au ...

. He claims they deserve neither witnesses, warning, nor judges to be punished according to Jewish law. Rather, anyone who removes them from existence merits great reward as one who removed an obstacle from the proper course of Jewish belief and practice. However, Maimonides expresses concern for the offspring of such individuals, and excludes them from those who deserve such punishment because they participated unwittingly in their denial of the Oral Law. While they are indeed sinners, he declares them unintentional participants in their lack of adherence to Jewish law and belief, similar to the case of a ''tinok shenishba''. Rather than be pushed away, such individuals are to be drawn into the Jewish community and taught the proper way so they can become observant,

frum Frum ( yi, פֿרום, , religious', 'pious) is a word that describes Jewish religious devotion. The term connotes the observance of Jewish religious law in a way that often exceeds its bare requirements. This not only includes the careful stud ...

members of community. The notion that unaffiliated and unobservant Jews are unwitting sinners who should be taught the Jewish laws and customs and welcomed into the Torah community is the basis for the many outreach organizations (''Kiruv'') that exist in the modern era, including

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

Aish Hatorah Aish HaTorah ( he, אש התורה, lit. "Fire of the Torah") is an Orthodox Jewish educational organization and yeshiva. History Aish HaTorah was established in Jerusalem in 1974 by Rabbi Noah Weinberg, after he left the Ohr Somayach yeshiva ...

, Ohr Somayach and Gateways.

Hasidic mysticism

The

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...

(1698–1760), founder of the revivalist

Hasidic movement Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

, brought a Adjusting the former hierarchy of values, the Baal Shem Tov taught that the simple, sincere common Jewish folk could be closer to God than the scholars, for whom pride may affect their scholarly achievements, and the elite scholars could envy and learn lessons in devotion from the uneducated community. The Baal Shem Tov and later Hasidic masters made ''

deveikut Devekut, debekuth, deveikuth or deveikus ( Heb. דבקות; Mod. Heb. "dedication", traditionally "clinging on" to God) is a Jewish concept referring to closeness to God. It may refer to a deep, trance-like meditative state attained during Jewi ...

'' the central principle in Jewish spirituality, teaching that the sincere divine soul essence of the artless Jew reflects the essential divine simplicity. In contemporary Hasidic views of

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

to unobservant Jews, this mystical emphasis implies that the value of a small deed of observance by unaffiliated Jews would be able to set aside one's own spiritual development, as the Baal Shem Tov taught, "a soul may come into the World for 70 years in order to do a single deed of kindness to another person".Entry in ''

Hayom Yom ''Hayom Yom'' ( he, היום יום, "Today is day ...") is an anthology of Hasidic aphorisms and customs arranged according to the calendar for the Hebrew year of 5703 (1942–43). The work was compiled and arranged by Rabbi Menachem Mendel S ...

'', Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Kehot pub.

References

External links

Tinok Shenishbah, by Rabbi Julian Sinclair, July 28, 2010; Jewish Chronicle Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinok Shenishba Jewish law principles Jewish theology Orthodox Jewish outreach