The 39 Lashes and the 39 Days to Yom Kippur
Parsha Halacha | September 06, 2025
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The 39 Lashes and the 39 Days to Yom Kippur

Parsha Halacha | December 10, 2025

One of the many mitzvot in the Torah portion of Ki Teitzei is that of giving lashes to sinners, as the Torah says,

אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ לֹא .וְהָּיָּה אִם בִן הַכוֹת הָּרָּשָּע וְהִפִילוֹ הַשֹפֵט וְהִכָּהוּ לְפָּנָּיו כְדֵי רִשְעָּתוֹ בְמִסְפָּר יֹסִיף פֶּן יֹסִיף לְהַכֹתוֹ עַל אֵלֶּה מַכָּה רַבָּה וְנִקְלָּה אָּ חִיךָ לְעֵינֶּיךָ׃ - “Should the wicked one deserve flogging, the judge shall bow him and have him flogged before him in the number befitting his crime. Forty he shall have him flogged, he may not add; lest he additionally flog him over these, a great flogging, then your brother will be slighted before you.”

Why 40?

According to the Ramban (based on Bamidbar Rabbah 5:4), the reason a sinner is punished with 40 lashes is because he transgressed the Torah, which was given in 40 days, and caused the (spiritual) death of a human being (himself), who was formed (into a fetus) in 40 days.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah, ibid) adds that just as Adam HaRishon brought 40 curses to the world by sinning with the Tree of Knowledge yet through those curses he was spared from (immediate) death, so, too, when a sinner receives the 40 lashes proscribed by the Torah, he is saved from death.

40 Curses

The 40 curses mentioned above were dispensed as follows: 10 to Adam, 10 to Chava (Eve), 10 to the snake, and 10 (or 9, see below) to the earth.

The Midrash (Pirkei DeRabi Eliezer 14) enumerates the curses as follows:

  • The 10 for Adam (and his male descendants) were:
    1. He was weakened
    2. He was shortened
    3. The impurity of Zav
    4. The impurity of Keri (unintended ejaculation)
    5. The impurity from intimacy
    6. When he plants wheat, thorns grow
    7. He eats grass (i.e., raw vegetables) like animals
    8. He worries about his food/income
    9. He has to toil for his sustenance
    10. Death
  • The 10 for Chava and her (female) descendants were as follows:
    1. The pain of childbirth
    2. The pain of losing her virginity
    3. The pain of pregnancy
    4. The difficulties of child-rearing
    5. She must cover her head like a mourner
    6. She only shaves her head if she is suspected of promiscuity
    7. Her ears are pierced as if she were an indentured servant
    8. She serves her husband like a maidservant
    9. She is not believed as a witness in a Beit Din
    10. Death
  • The 10 for the snake (and all future snakes) were:
    1. The angel Samech-Mem (the spiritual force behind the snake) was deposed from his holy position in heaven
    2. Its feet were cut off
    3. The gestation period for snakes is longer than that of a domestic or wild animal
    4. It lost the ability to speak
    5. It sheds his skin every seven years with great pain
    6. It slithers on his belly
    7. Everything it eats tastes like dust
    8. It has poison in his mouth
    9. There’s hatred between it and mankind and man seeks to crush its head
    10. Death
  • The curses of the earth were:
    1. That it needs rain and doesn’t have (enough) of its own moisture
    2. Its fruit are (often) blighted
    3. As are its crops
    4. Thorns and thistles grow from it
    5. It has mountains and rocks
    6. People dig in the earth with metal implements
    7. Those killed on it will not be (automatically) covered (it is thus defiled by their impurities)
    8. When the people are undeserving, they will harvest a little even if they plant a lot
    9. The earth will become “worn out” in the Messianic Era

39 Instead of 40

Our sages taught that a sinner would only receive 39 lashes despite the fact that the verse says “Forty he shall be flogged.” Various explanations are given by the commentaries as to how the sages came to this conclusion:

  • The Number Approaching 40
    The Talmud understands that the last word of verse 2 should be read as part of the next verse, as follows; בְמִסְפָּר אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ. This can mean “You shall flog him in the number that approaches 40” i.e., 39. Rashi and Rabbeinu Bachye add that the vowels of the word בְמִסְפָּר (bemispar) indicates that it should be read this way as if it weren’t connected to the next verse the correct vowelization would be בַמִסְפָּר (bamispar).
  • To Protect from Error
    According to the Rambam, the sages instituted that we should deduct one lash from the amount proscribed by the Torah in order to ensure that the sinner not (mistakenly) receive an extra lash. In his words; “Therefore our Sages said: that even a very healthy person is given only 39 lashes. For if accidentally an extra blow is administered, he will still not have been given more than the 40 which he was required to receive.”

Why 39?

Several reasons are given by the commentaries as to why a sinner receives 39 lashes.

  • G-d, the Torah, and the Jewish Soul
    The Kli Yakar says that the 39 lashes represent that the sinner repudiated the one G-d (אחד /one is the numerical value of 13), the Torah (which is expounded in 13 manners), and his G-dly soul which he received when he turned 13 (or when a women entered her 13th year). These numbers equal 39.
  • Lacking Wisdom
    According to our sages, it takes 40 years to achieve wisdom. As such, the number 39 indicates a lack of wisdom, and so we give the sinner 39 lashes to remind the sinner that his sin indicates a lapse in his wisdom.
  • The Dew of the Resurrection
    One who sins against G-d deserves to die. By receiving the punishment of lashes as proscribed by the Torah, one is saved from this fate and is thus considered to be resurrected. This is why 39 lashes were administered, as ל"ט (39) is the numerical value of the word טל – dew, which alludes to the dew with which G-d will resurrect the dead in the Future Time.
  • Corresponding to the 39 Curses
    According to Rabbi Menachem Rikanati and the Arizal, the 39 lashes correspond to the 39 curses visited on this world that were mentioned above (10 for Adam, 10 for Chava, 10 for the snake, and 9 for the earth). This is why, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the lashes were given in four groups. 10 on the spine corresponding to the snake, 10 on the right side corresponding to Adam who was created from the right side (chessed), 10 on the left side for Chava who was created from the left side (gevurah) and 9 on the belly corresponding to the earth which is compared to the stomach (as it’s in the center of the universe as the stomach is in the center of the body).

The 39 Melachot of Shabbat

The Shela points out that the Mishnah refers to the 39 forbidden labors of Shabbat as “40 minus one” alludes to the fact that these labors correspond to the lashes which the Torah refers to as numbering 40 but are in fact 39. These in turn correspond to the 39 curses mentioned above. This means that by laboring in these 39 types of work during the week in a holy manner and according to the Torah, one can fix the abovementioned 39 curses. On Shabbat we may not perform these labors since on Shabbat the world is elevated to the level it was prior to the sin and therefore doesn’t need rectification.

39 Days

Rabbi Pinchos Friedman explains that, just as the 39 curses were rectified by 39 lashes, so too we can rectify these curses by doing Teshuvah during the 39 days from the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul until Erev Yom Kippur. Symbolically we receive 39 lashes on Erev Yom Kippur to indicate that after these 39 days we are like one who received 39 lashes and thus cleansed of all our sins.

In this Merit, May We Be Blessed with a Good Sweet Year Among All of Israel, May the Hostages Be Swiftly and Safely Returned, and the Soldiers Be Protected from Harm!

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom Umevorach!

Copyright 2025 by Rabbi Aryeh Citron

One of the many mitzvot in the Torah portion of Ki Teitzei is that of giving lashes to sinners, as the Torah says,

אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ לֹא .וְהָּיָּה אִם בִן הַכוֹת הָּרָּשָּע וְהִפִילוֹ הַשֹפֵט וְהִכָּהוּ לְפָּנָּיו כְדֵי רִשְעָּתוֹ בְמִסְפָּר יֹסִיף פֶּן יֹסִיף לְהַכֹתוֹ עַל אֵלֶּה מַכָּה רַבָּה וְנִקְלָּה אָּ חִיךָ לְעֵינֶּיךָ׃ - “Should the wicked one deserve flogging, the judge shall bow him and have him flogged before him in the number befitting his crime. Forty he shall have him flogged, he may not add; lest he additionally flog him over these, a great flogging, then your brother will be slighted before you.”

Why 40?

According to the Ramban (based on Bamidbar Rabbah 5:4), the reason a sinner is punished with 40 lashes is because he transgressed the Torah, which was given in 40 days, and caused the (spiritual) death of a human being (himself), who was formed (into a fetus) in 40 days.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah, ibid) adds that just as Adam HaRishon brought 40 curses to the world by sinning with the Tree of Knowledge yet through those curses he was spared from (immediate) death, so, too, when a sinner receives the 40 lashes proscribed by the Torah, he is saved from death.

40 Curses

The 40 curses mentioned above were dispensed as follows: 10 to Adam, 10 to Chava (Eve), 10 to the snake, and 10 (or 9, see below) to the earth.

The Midrash (Pirkei DeRabi Eliezer 14) enumerates the curses as follows:

  • The 10 for Adam (and his male descendants) were:
    1. He was weakened
    2. He was shortened
    3. The impurity of Zav
    4. The impurity of Keri (unintended ejaculation)
    5. The impurity from intimacy
    6. When he plants wheat, thorns grow
    7. He eats grass (i.e., raw vegetables) like animals
    8. He worries about his food/income
    9. He has to toil for his sustenance
    10. Death
  • The 10 for Chava and her (female) descendants were as follows:
    1. The pain of childbirth
    2. The pain of losing her virginity
    3. The pain of pregnancy
    4. The difficulties of child-rearing
    5. She must cover her head like a mourner
    6. She only shaves her head if she is suspected of promiscuity
    7. Her ears are pierced as if she were an indentured servant
    8. She serves her husband like a maidservant
    9. She is not believed as a witness in a Beit Din
    10. Death
  • The 10 for the snake (and all future snakes) were:
    1. The angel Samech-Mem (the spiritual force behind the snake) was deposed from his holy position in heaven
    2. Its feet were cut off
    3. The gestation period for snakes is longer than that of a domestic or wild animal
    4. It lost the ability to speak
    5. It sheds his skin every seven years with great pain
    6. It slithers on his belly
    7. Everything it eats tastes like dust
    8. It has poison in his mouth
    9. There’s hatred between it and mankind and man seeks to crush its head
    10. Death
  • The curses of the earth were:
    1. That it needs rain and doesn’t have (enough) of its own moisture
    2. Its fruit are (often) blighted
    3. As are its crops
    4. Thorns and thistles grow from it
    5. It has mountains and rocks
    6. People dig in the earth with metal implements
    7. Those killed on it will not be (automatically) covered (it is thus defiled by their impurities)
    8. When the people are undeserving, they will harvest a little even if they plant a lot
    9. The earth will become “worn out” in the Messianic Era

39 Instead of 40

Our sages taught that a sinner would only receive 39 lashes despite the fact that the verse says “Forty he shall be flogged.” Various explanations are given by the commentaries as to how the sages came to this conclusion:

  • The Number Approaching 40
    The Talmud understands that the last word of verse 2 should be read as part of the next verse, as follows; בְמִסְפָּר אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ. This can mean “You shall flog him in the number that approaches 40” i.e., 39. Rashi and Rabbeinu Bachye add that the vowels of the word בְמִסְפָּר (bemispar) indicates that it should be read this way as if it weren’t connected to the next verse the correct vowelization would be בַמִסְפָּר (bamispar).
  • To Protect from Error
    According to the Rambam, the sages instituted that we should deduct one lash from the amount proscribed by the Torah in order to ensure that the sinner not (mistakenly) receive an extra lash. In his words; “Therefore our Sages said: that even a very healthy person is given only 39 lashes. For if accidentally an extra blow is administered, he will still not have been given more than the 40 which he was required to receive.”

Why 39?

Several reasons are given by the commentaries as to why a sinner receives 39 lashes.

  • G-d, the Torah, and the Jewish Soul
    The Kli Yakar says that the 39 lashes represent that the sinner repudiated the one G-d (אחד /one is the numerical value of 13), the Torah (which is expounded in 13 manners), and his G-dly soul which he received when he turned 13 (or when a women entered her 13th year). These numbers equal 39.
  • Lacking Wisdom
    According to our sages, it takes 40 years to achieve wisdom. As such, the number 39 indicates a lack of wisdom, and so we give the sinner 39 lashes to remind the sinner that his sin indicates a lapse in his wisdom.
  • The Dew of the Resurrection
    One who sins against G-d deserves to die. By receiving the punishment of lashes as proscribed by the Torah, one is saved from this fate and is thus considered to be resurrected. This is why 39 lashes were administered, as ל"ט (39) is the numerical value of the word טל – dew, which alludes to the dew with which G-d will resurrect the dead in the Future Time.
  • Corresponding to the 39 Curses
    According to Rabbi Menachem Rikanati and the Arizal, the 39 lashes correspond to the 39 curses visited on this world that were mentioned above (10 for Adam, 10 for Chava, 10 for the snake, and 9 for the earth). This is why, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the lashes were given in four groups. 10 on the spine corresponding to the snake, 10 on the right side corresponding to Adam who was created from the right side (chessed), 10 on the left side for Chava who was created from the left side (gevurah) and 9 on the belly corresponding to the earth which is compared to the stomach (as it’s in the center of the universe as the stomach is in the center of the body).

The 39 Melachot of Shabbat

The Shela points out that the Mishnah refers to the 39 forbidden labors of Shabbat as “40 minus one” alludes to the fact that these labors correspond to the lashes which the Torah refers to as numbering 40 but are in fact 39. These in turn correspond to the 39 curses mentioned above. This means that by laboring in these 39 types of work during the week in a holy manner and according to the Torah, one can fix the abovementioned 39 curses. On Shabbat we may not perform these labors since on Shabbat the world is elevated to the level it was prior to the sin and therefore doesn’t need rectification.

39 Days

Rabbi Pinchos Friedman explains that, just as the 39 curses were rectified by 39 lashes, so too we can rectify these curses by doing Teshuvah during the 39 days from the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul until Erev Yom Kippur. Symbolically we receive 39 lashes on Erev Yom Kippur to indicate that after these 39 days we are like one who received 39 lashes and thus cleansed of all our sins.

In this Merit, May We Be Blessed with a Good Sweet Year Among All of Israel, May the Hostages Be Swiftly and Safely Returned, and the Soldiers Be Protected from Harm!

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom Umevorach!

Copyright 2025 by Rabbi Aryeh Citron

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Parsha Halacha | September 06, 2025