The Torah assigned certain punishments for intentional violations of its laws. In some instances, a violator is subject to court-administered punishments, such as Malkot (lashes) or execution, and in other cases, a violator is subject to punishment directly by God, such as "Karet." The Gemara defines "Karet" as premature death, Heaven forbid, specifically, dying by the age of fifty.
Before the age of Bar Misva or Bat Misva – thirteen years of age for boys, twelve for girls – a child is not subject to any punishments. Because of their young age, it is the parents’ responsibility to educate and train them in religious observance, and it is therefore the parents who bear liability for the child’s mistakes. For this reason, it is customary for a father to recite a Beracha on the occasion of a child’s Bar Misva or Bat Misva, "Baruch She’petarani Me’onsho Shel Ze" ("Blessed is He who has absolved me from this [child’s] punishment"). One recites this Beracha without "Shem U’malchut" (the phrase "Hashem Elokenu Melech Ha’olam").
Once a child reaches the age of Misva obligation (twelve or thirteen), he or she is subject to the Torah’s punishments. Already at the age of thirteen (or twelve in the case of a girl), a child who intentionally violates Shabbat, for example, is liable to capital punishment by Bet Din (assuming he had been warned and there were witnesses to the event), and he is likewise liable to Malkot for violating certain other transgressions. Interestingly enough, some scholars suggest that the age of thirteen, at which a boy becomes liable to corporal punishment, is the underlying reason for why specifically thirty-nine lashes are administered when Malkot is warranted. One becomes eligible for Malkot at the age of thirteen, and Malkot are administered for three kinds of transgressions, represented by the terms "Het," "Avon" and "Pesha." This is signified by the number thirty-nine, the product of thirteen and three.
Once a child reaches the age of Bar Misva or Bat Misva, he or she is also subject to the obligations of Korbanot. In situations requiring a sin-offering, a child is obligated to bring a sacrifice already from the age of twelve or thirteen.
There is a dispute among the Rabbis as to when a person becomes subject to the punishment of "Karet." The Hatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Pressburg, 1762-1839) and the Hacham Sevi (Rav Sevi Ashkenazi, Amsterdam, 1660-1718) claimed that at the age of Bar Misva or Bat Misva a child becomes subject to all punishments, including "Karet." Although the Midrash speaks of the age of twenty as the point at which one becomes subject to divine punishment, these authorities note that this does not appear in the Talmud, and that we must not take the Midrash’s comment literally. According to this view, a thirteen-year-old who intentionally eats Hametz on Pesah, for example, is liable to "Karet."
Many other scholars, however, including the Hid"a (Rav Haim Yosef David Azoulai, 1724-1806) – in numerous places in his writings – and the Ben Ish Hai (Rav Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), disagree. They demonstrate from several sources, in both the Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi, that a person is not subject to "Karet" for violations committed before the age of twenty. On the basis of this view, some have proposed an explanation for an otherwise perplexing account in the Gemara of a transgressor who was given sixty lashes. Eligibility for the punishment of "Karet" begins at the age of twenty, and this punishment applies to the three categories of "Het," "Avon" and "Pesha," and therefore the court administered sixty lashes (20x3) for a "Karet" violation.
Nowadays, of course, we cannot bring a Korban (sacrifice) to atone for our wrongdoing, and the courts do not have the authority to administer punishment. We must remember, however, that sin requires atonement, and that already from the age of twenty we are subject to the entire range of punishments. It therefore behooves us all to perform sincere Teshuba, which has the ability to atone for all sins, even the most severe violations, and pray to the Almighty for forgiveness.
