כרת

כָּרַת(b. h.; cmp. כָּרָה) 1) to cut. Num. R. s. 16 ונקרא אשכול … לִכְרוֹתוכ׳ and he (Abrahams ally) was named Eshkol (Cluster), on account of the cluster of grapes which the Israelites were destined to cut in his home.Esp. to cut genitals, mutilate. Bekh.33b נותק אחר כּוֹרֵת, v. נָתַק.Part. pass. כָּרוּת. Ib.; a. fr.כְּ׳ שפכה one that is mutilated at his membrum, v. שָׁפַךְ. Tosef.Yeb.XI, 2. Yeb.VIII, 2; a. fr. 2) (to draw a circle, place outside, cmp. meanings of חרם, ברי, to cut off, excommunicate, v. כָּרֵת. Y.Bicc.II, beg.64c; Y.Snh.XI, 30b צא … עונשין וכוֹרְתִים deduct twenty years up to which age the divine court neither punishes nor decrees excision. 3) to separate, divorce; to make final. Gitt.21b; Succ.24b (ref. to Deut. 24:3) ספר כּוֹרְתָהּוכ׳ the delivery of the deed divorces her and nothing else does. Ib. דבר הכּוֹרֵת בינו לבינה something (a condition) which (if fulfilled) severs definitely the connection between him and her (e. g. a condition that she will drink no wine for the next thirty days, after the lapse of which time the letter of divorce takes its effect retroactively, opp. to a condition that she will abstain from wine all the rest of her life in which case the letter of divorce cannot take effect).Part. pass. כָּרוּת definite. Y.Gitt.VII, 48d כגט כ׳ הוא it is like a final divorce (taking effect immediately); Y.B. Bath.VIII, 16c top כ׳ הוא. Y.Gitt.III, 44d top; IX, 50b bot. זה כ׳ לשמה ווה כ׳ לשמה (not זו) this letter was definitely made out for this woman, and so was the other for the other woman. Ib. III, beg.44c אלא שלא הי׳ לה כ׳ … ראשונה (strike out לה); a. fr. 3) to decide, make final. Ber.4a; Snh.16b (ref. to כְּרֵתִי as a symbolical name for the Urim and Tummim, or for the Sanhedrin) שכּוֹרְתִים את דבריהם they give definite and precise decisions; Midr. Till. to Ps. 3 כּוֹרְתֵי כריתות, v. כְּרִיתָה; a. e.כ׳ בְּרִית (v. בְּרִית) to covenant, make a firm promise. Gen. R. s. 44 כָּרַתָּ ב׳ עםוכ׳ thou hast promised to Noah that thou wilt not destroy his descendants; Yalk. Gen. 76 כָּרַתָּה.Part. pass. כָּרוּת, f. כְּרוּתָה. M. Kat. 18a, a. fr. ברית כ׳ לשפתים, v. בְּרִית. R. Hash 17b ב׳ כ׳ לי״ג מדזתוכ׳ there is a solemn insurance given that the invocation of the thirteen divine attributes (Ex. 34:6, sq.) will never be without effect (ref. to Ex. ib. 10).Trnsf. ב׳ כ׳ it is a necessity, unavoidable. Nidd.58b ב׳ כ׳ לו שכלוכ׳ whoever crushes it cannot help smelling it. Nif. נִכְרַת 1) to be cut, mutilated. Yeb.VIII, 2 (expl. כרות שפכה, Deut. 23:2) כלשנ׳ הגיד when the membrum is mutilated. Ib. 75b נִכְרְתוּ ביצים when the testicles are cut out; a. fr. 2) to be covenanted. Sot.37b שלא נִכְרְתוּ עליהוכ׳ upon which were not closed forty eight covenants; Tosef. ib. VIII, 11; a. fr. 3) to be cut off, destroyed. Y.Peah I, 15d bot. (ref. to Num. 15:31) מלמד שהנפש נִכְרָתָה ועונה בה which intimates that (the idolaters) soul is cut off (through premature death, כָּרֵת), while her guilt remains with her (unexpiated by death); Snh.64b (ref. to the emphasized expression הכרת תכ׳, Num. l. c.) הִכָּרֵת בעו״הזוכ׳ hiccareth refers to this world ; a. fr.Verbal noun הִיכָּרֵת, v. כָּרֵת. Hif. הִכְרִית to destroy, exterminate. Tanḥ. Reh 7 והַכְרִיתֵם and exterminate them. Ib. כשיַכְרִיתוכ׳ when the Lord … shall have destroyed …, you will enter. Tosef.Snh.IV, 5 להַכְרִית זרעווכ׳ to exterminate the seed of Amalek; a. fr. Pi. כֵּרֵת to doom to destruction. Arakh.15b שכבר כֵּרְתוֹוכ׳ for David has doomed him (ref. to Ps. 12:4); Yalk. Lev. 559.