"You shall not allow a witch to live"-Exodus 22:17.
It is forbidden to allow a sorcerer to live [rather, he must be put to death].
"The judge shall make him lean over and flog him in front of him"-Deuteronomy 25:2.
Transgressors of certain sins are to be punished with flogging.
"He shall give him forty lashes; he may not exceed"-Deuteronomy 25:2-3.
A judge may not sentence a person (found guilty of an offense that calls for flogging) to be flogged even one lash more than his body can physically bear.
A person who is sentenced to flogging is given 39 lashes. However, no person is flogged until [a doctor] estimates how many lashes the defendant can bear-taking in consideration his age, constitution and physique. If the defendant cannot bear the full 39 lashes, he is given as many as he is capable of receiving-not less, however, than three lashes. [In the event that he is only capable of bearing less than three lashes, he is not flogged at all.]
Included in this prohibition is adding even one lash on the 39 requisite lashes [even for one capable of bearing it].
Also included in this mitzvah is the prohibition against striking a fellow Jew. If we are admonished not to strike a sinner [more than he deserves], how much more so the innocent!
It is even forbidden to raise one's hand against a fellow, threatening to strike, even if one has no intention of actually hitting. As our Sages say, "One who [just] raises his hands on his fellow is called evil."
