Kares is defined in the back of one of my books as excision; early death imposed for certain classes of transgressions. It occurred to me in the shower this morning (I often do my best thinking there!) that one of the reasons for a lack of a hell like concept in Judaism is that in a real concrete person and action centric faith there is no need for a theoretical bizarre spot in the middle of the earth where you are tortured forever.

I find it intellectually dishonest when people talk about the vengefulness of the original testament G-d when this modern illegitimate testament creates a dualist alter ego for G-d and invents a notion to scare the crap out of people which plays on a deeply seated pagan myth of the underworld. When you hear Christians talk about Hades; guess what? That is a Roman, Greek, and pre-both myth. Remember Rome didn’t convert to Christianity, Christianity converted to Rome, and Roman myths are lifted from the Greeks.

Anyway, back to the point. There is no record, from my understanding, of human imposed early death for a kares transgression. The Chazal were afraid, seemingly, of wrongfully putting someone to death. The only part of kares we find implemented is the excision part.

So why was this enough and how did it obviate hell?

Imagine your whole world revolving around a community, your schul, your eruv, your breeding pool, your entire socioeconomic system. Now imagine being forbidden from it and forbidden from any similar community where the courts could find you. I don’t know if we have a modern equivalent. Jail for life isn’t even this severe because you are fed, clothed, and tended to in prison. If you found yourself wandering in the dessert without food no other tribe was going to welcome you in, especially not a Jew who obviously was convicted of something really bad – why else would he have been kicked out of the tribe?

Sounds pretty severe to me! Maybe death penalty is not the right idea, maybe excision should be revisited.