Death Penalty in Judaism

Is there death penalty for violating Shabbat as per Exodus 31:15?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

As you correctly note, the observance of Shabbat is so important and sacred that the violation of Shabbat is punishable by death.

According to Jewish law the death penalty is only admissible if one intentionally desecrates Shabbat in front of two witnesses and one was forewarned by these witnesses not to desecrate Shabbat. There were more requirements as well to the nature of the transgression in order for the death penalty to be administered. There were four types of death that would be administered by the court: stoning, burning, choking, beheading. The penalty for Shabbat desecration was stoning, as it says: ...”those who found him gathering wood brought him before Moshe, Aharon, and the whole community...G-d said to Moshe, “The man shall be put to death; the whole community shall pelt him with stones outside the camp.” So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death. (Numbers 15:32-36)

If not witnesses were present, one would be subject to the penalty of “karet,” a form of spiritual excommunication, for intentional violation of Shabbat. This is explicit in the verse where it is written: “You shall keep Shabbat, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does work on it shall be CUT-OFF (‘karet’) from his people” (Ex. 31:14).

That being said, the death penalty was rarely implemented, if at all, as it was so rare for all the requirements to merit the death penalty to be present. In fact, the sages say that a court that put one person to death every seven years is considered to be murderous court. Rabbi Elazar b. Azaria said that even a court that killed one person in seventy years was considered to be a murderous court!

Nowadays, of course, there is no death penalty, or any Jewish-court imposed penalty, for Torah transgressions.