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                <title xml:lang="he">Herem</title>
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                    <p><foreign>ḥērem</foreign> /ˈḵārəm, khay'-rem/, noun, m, (in hebrew <foreign>חֵרֶם</foreign>, also romanized as <foreign>chērem</foreign>), also used as adjective.</p>
                </div>
                <div type="textpart" n="etimology">
                    <head>Etimology and Morphology</head>
                    <p>The word comes from the semitic root Ḥ-R-M [<foreign>חָרַם</foreign>] with meanings having to do with prohibiting and sanctity. There is another root, ḫ-r-m, which can mean to destroy or annihilate.
                        It is related to the Arabic root ḫ-r-m, which can also mean to perforate; the same used for the word <foreign>ḥarām</foreign> (adj, m, /həˈrɑːm, hæˈrɑːm, hɑːˈrɑːm, -ˈræm/; in Arabic <foreign>حَرَام</foreign>), meaning "Forbidden".</p>
                        <p> The three declinations of the term <foreign>herem</foreign>, "<rs type="practice">censure</rs>, <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs>", "devotion by annihilation" in the <title>Tanakh</title>, and "devotion of property", are all English transliterations of the same Hebrew noun. There is also a homonym, <foreign>herem</foreign> <ref type="lit">(Ezek 32,3)</ref>, meaning fisherman's net, which is regarded as etymologically unrelated, according to the <title>Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon</title>.</p>
                        <p>There is a related verb, <foreign>heḥərîm</foreign> (<foreign>החרים</foreign>), meaning "to treat as <foreign>ḥērem</foreign>", "to <rs type="practice">devote</rs>" or "destroy utterly".</p>
                </div>
                <div type="textpart" n="discussion">
                    <head>Discussion and Interpretation</head>
                    <p><hi rend="italic"><rs type="practice">Consecration</rs> and <rs type="practice">Dedication</rs> in the <title>Tanakh</title>.</hi> <foreign>Herem</foreign> (or <foreign>cherem</foreign>) in the <title>Tanakh</title> (during the time of <persName type="biblical" key="Joshua">Joshua</persName> and the early <rs type="institutions">Hebrew monarchy</rs>) is used as meaning something (an object, person or location) dedicated to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>, or put under a <rs type="practice">ban</rs> (preclusion or exclusion), sometimes it even means for the subject to be utterly destroyed. The lemma has been translated and explained in a series of different ways by scholars, as a polysemous concept regarding taboo and holyness. In time it has come to meaning "a mode of secluding, or excluding, anything threatening the religious life of the nation" (<persName key="driver">Driver</persName>, 1896), but also "the total destruction of the enemy and his goods at the conclusion of a campaign" (<persName key="soggin">Soggin</persName>, 1972), even "uncompromising <rs type="practice">consecration</rs> of property and <rs type="practice">dedication</rs> of the property to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> without possibility of recall or redemption" (<persName key="lilley">Lilley</persName>, 1993). The lemma can be often considered the equivalent of the latin word  <foreign>devotio</foreign> (used for <rs type="practice">human sacrifice</rs> too) and the greek <ref corresp="lexicon_anathema.html">anathema</ref>; <foreign>herem</foreign> is a term used both in the sense of <rs type="practice">consecration</rs> and of condemnation, like <foreign><w lemma="anathema">anathema</w></foreign> (<foreign>'Aνάθημα</foreign>) it can indicate a <rs type="practice">votive offering</rs>, something <rs type="practice">devoted</rs> to, or set aside for, the special use of the divinity. In the <title>New Testament</title> and in its ecclesiastical sense it indicates more specifically "set aside for evil”, a concept then developed by Talmudic and rabbinic literature towards the legal meaning of “<rs type="practice">excommunication</rs>” and even the identification of the term as “<rs type="practice">curse</rs>” (through a part-whole semantic relationship, starting from the concept of accursed status).</p>
                    <p>In the <title>Tarakh</title> the “<rs type="practice">consecration</rs> by destruction”, at the command of <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> or in His name, was biblically carried out against entire cities or populations: the Midianites, the Amalekites, <placeName key="jericho">Jericho</placeName> (as narrated in <ref type="lit">Joshua 6,17-18.21</ref>), <placeName key="jabesh-gilead">Jabesh-Gilead</placeName> (for not joining the battle, <ref type="lit">Judg 1,19-21</ref>), the priestly town of <placeName key="nob">Nob</placeName> (under <persName type="biblical" key="saul">King Saul</persName>). <foreign>Herem</foreign> was comparable to a sacred duty as shown by the selection of <persName type="biblical" key="david">David</persName> as <persName type="biblical" key="saul">Saul</persName>’s replacement after the latter neglected to carry out the command delivered by <persName type="biblical" key="samuel">Samuel</persName> (in <ref type="lit">I Samuel</ref>). <title>Deuteronomy</title> (<ref type="lit">Deut 20,17</ref>) names six populaces who were to be subject to <foreign>herem</foreign> (used in this case as verb), with the objective of the conquest of <placeName key="canaan">Canaan</placeName> by brutal force and genocide. <foreign>Herem</foreign> is the last word in the prophetic books of the <title>Old Testament</title> in the phrase <quote>"lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction"</quote> (<ref type="lit">Mal 3,24</ref>).</p>
                    <p>On the other hand, <foreign>herem</foreign> can also indicate a “<rs type="practice">devoted</rs> gift” (as in <ref type="lit">Num 18,14</ref> and <ref type="lit">Lev 27,28</ref>), regarding an object or property to be <rs type="practice">devoted</rs> to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>, with godly permission granted to a <foreign><rs type="systems">kohen</rs></foreign> (<rs type="systems">priest</rs>) to receive it as an agent. This conceptual reading is considered a law, one of the twenty-four <rs type="belief">kohanic gifts</rs> at that (to be precise, as for Talmudic literature, one of the ten gifts given to the <rs type="systems">priest</rs> even outside <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName>). Biblical verses give us seemingly incompatible instructions about the actuation of this law, so the <title>Tosefta</title> (<ref type="lit">Tosefta Arachin 4:13</ref>) talks about them as two cases: <foreign>hermei gavoah</foreign> (things willingly consecrated by their owner to the <rs type="structures">Temple</rs>) and <foreign>hermei kohanim</foreign> (things to be given the <rs type="systems">priest</rs>, as not designated by their owner to the <rs type="structures">Temple</rs>).</p>
                    <p></p>
                    <p><hi rend="italic">From the biblical “<rs type="practice">consecration</rs>” to <rs type="practice">Excommunication</rs> in Talmudic Literature.</hi> There is a distinctive difference in meaning between the usage of <foreign>herem</foreign> in the <title>Tanakh</title> (holiness, <rs type="practice">consecration</rs> of something event by complete annihilation) and the later Talmudic usage (<rs type="practice">excommunication</rs>, <rs type="practice">ban</rs>).</p> 
                    <p>Starting from the interpretation of the term in texts such as <ref type="lit">Ezra 10:8</ref>, <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> as employed during Talmudic times and the Middle Ages, became a rabbinic institution, finalized to preserve Jewish solidarity. A system of laws was gradually developed, so that it became less arbitrary with time and ended up as one of the modes of legal punishment by <rs type="institutions">rabbinic courts</rs> for certain prescribed offenses. <foreign>Herem</foreign> is the highest canonical <rs type="practice">censure</rs> in the Jewish culture, represented by total exclusion and shunning of an offender, similar to the vitandus <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> of the <rs type="institutions">Catholic Church</rs>. From this form of forced exclusion other semitic languages derived terms in the same semantic fiels: the Arabic terms <foreign>ḥarām</foreign> (with the meaning of "forbidden, taboo, immoral"), <foreign>ḥarim</foreign> (forbidden ground, sanctuary) or <foreign>ḥarem</foreign> (forbidden person, place dedicated to a specific person), the <foreign>Ge'ez</foreign> word <foreign>ʿirm</foreign> (meaning "accursed"). The <title>Talmud</title> speaks of twenty-four offenses that, in theory, were punishable by a form of <foreign><rs type="practice">niddui</rs></foreign> (temporary <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs>) as enumerated by <persName key="maimonides">Maimonides</persName> (1138–1204) and later schoolars. If, at the expiration of the <foreign><rs type="practice">niddui</rs></foreign>, the <rs type="practice">excommunicate</rs> was deemed not remorseful, he was punishable by the true definitive <foreign>herem</foreign>: complete <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> from the cult and the community (for an indefinite period, the offender could not be helped by any member of the community).</p>
                    <p>In modern times, with the exception of rare cases (mostly in the <placeName type="etnic" key="haredicommunities">Haredi</placeName> and <placeName type="etnic" key="hasidiccommunities">Hasidic communities</placeName>), <foreign>herem</foreign> as a legal institution stopped existing after the <foreign>Haskalah</foreign> (ended in 1881), when Jewish communities lost their political autonomy and were integrated into the nations they had been living in.</p>                    
                </div>
                <div type="textpart" n="attestations">
                    <head>Attestations</head>
                    <p>The Hebrew adjective <foreign>חֵרֶם</foreign> means primarly "<rs type="practice">devoted</rs> thing" or "thing <rs type="practice">devoted</rs> to destruction". The term is attested 29 times in the Masoretic Text of the <title>Tanakh</title>. The homonym, noun <foreign>herem</foreign>, meaning "fisherman's net", is used a further 9 times. The word "<rs type="practice">devoted</rs>" (<foreign>herem</foreign>) is understood by <persName key="maimonides">Maimonides</persName> as a "complete and total transition" from one status to another. The <title>Targums</title> define the word as a complete separation. According to Samuel ben Meir, this is the complete transition of an estate or object from <foreign>hullin</foreign> (mundane) status to that of <foreign>kodesh</foreign> (holy).</p>
                    <p>1. <hi rend="italic">Referring to the semantic field of Holyness</hi>; can be read and integrated as “Holy Status”, “Consecrated”, “Prohibition from ordinary usage” and “Separated from the cult”.</p>
                    <list rend="bulleted"><item><p>a. <ref type="lit">(Lev 27,28)</ref> Chapter 27 of <title>Leviticus</title> deals with what is given to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> by vow, things not required by a specific law, but freely given; it lists all wares, based on the situation. More specifically, “devotion” of something was a further step of “<rs type="practice">consecration</rs> by vow” and often would mean destroying the item or kill the living being so that it would remain for the sole use of <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>. If something was already considered a “<rs type="practice">devoted offering</rs>” it could not be chosen for a vow since it already belonged to divinity (it was “most holy to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>”); as such it could not be redeemed either.</p>
                        <p><foreign><quote> אַךְ־כָּל־חֵרֶם אֲשֶׁר יַחֲרִם אִישׁ לַיהוָה מִכָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ מֵאָדָם  וּבְהֵמָה וּמִשְּׂדֵה אֲחֻזָּתוֹ לֹא יִמָּכֵר וְלֹא יִגָּאֵל כָּל־חֵרֶם קֹדֶשׁ־קָדָשִׁים הוּא לַיהוָה</quote></foreign></p>
                        <p>Assuredly, every <foreign>ḥērem</foreign>  that a man declares <foreign>ḥērem</foreign> to the <persName type="divine" key="lord">Lord</persName> of everything that he has, both man and beast, both field and his possession shall not be sold or redeemed. Every <foreign>ḥērem</foreign> is most holy for the <persName type="divine" key="lord">Lord</persName>.</p></item>
                        <item><p>b. (<ref type="lit">Num 18,14.29</ref>; in particular <ref type="lit">Num 18,14</ref> and <ref type="lit">Num 18,29</ref>) <title>Numbers</title> 18 enumerates the responsabilities and the privileges of <rs type="systems">priests</rs> and <rs type="systems">levites</rs>. <rs type="systems">Priests</rs> received portions from grain, sin, trepass and firstfruit <rs type="practice">offerings</rs> (this way <rs type="systems">priesthood</rs> could be supported in <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName>); as the first fruit breaking a living flash, every firstborn also belonged to the <rs type="systems">priest</rs>, was brought to the <rs type="structures">tabernacle</rs> and then symbolically redeemed. The <rs type="systems">Levites</rs> were supported by the tithes (around a giving of ten percent of income). The <rs type="practice">offering</rs> and the tithes both belong to<persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>so they are His to give).</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>כׇּל־חֵ֥רֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְךָ֥ יִהְיֶֽה׃</quote></foreign></p>
                            <p>Everything that has been proscribed in <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName> shall be yours.</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>מִכֹּל֙ מַתְּנֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם תָּרִ֕ימוּ אֵ֖ת כׇּל־תְּרוּמַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֑ה מִכׇּ֨ל־חֶלְבּ֔וֹ אֶֽת־מִקְדְּשׁ֖וֹ מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃</quote></foreign></p>
                    <p>You shall set aside all gifts due to <foreign>יהוה</foreign> from everything that is donated to you, from each thing its best portion, the part thereof that is to be consecrated.</p></item>
                        <item><p>c. <ref type="lit">(Sifra to Numbers 10,29 of <title>Ramban commentary</title>; regarding Num 18,14.29).</ref> The <title>Sifra</title> describes the order to <rs type="practice">devote</rs> objects and people as enabling the <placeName type="etnic" key="israelite">Israelite</placeName> to act regarding things that otherwise do not have any commandment to regulate them: making said possession <foreign>herem</foreign> they elevates it to holiness. In this case it indicates that the <rs type="systems">priests</rs>' right is a reward for <persName type="biblical" key="jochebed">Jochebed</persName> (mother of the first <rs type="systems">priest</rs> <persName type="biblical" key="aaron">Aaron</persName>) for rescuing the infants of <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName> from the pharaonic infanticide.</p>
                            <p><quote>"And <persName type="biblical" key="kotz">Kotz</persName> gave birth to <persName type="biblical" key="onuv">Onuv</persName> and to <persName type="biblical" key="hotzovevah">HaTzovevah</persName> and the families (of) <persName type="biblical" key="acharcheil">Acharcheil</persName> the son of <persName type="biblical" key="harum">Harum</persName>" - "son/child of <persName type="biblical" key="harum">Harum</persName>" refers to <persName type="biblical" key="jochebed">Jochebed</persName>, as it is written: "All <foreign>herem</foreign> in <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName> shall be yours"</quote></p></item></list>                                   
                   <p>2.  <hi rend="italic">Referring to impurity, defiled status</hi>; can be read and integrated as “Accursed Status”, “<rs type="practice">Apostasy</rs> as reason”, “leads to destruction”, “People with polytheistic religions”.</p>
                    <list rend="bulleted"><item><p>a. <ref type="lit">(Deut 7,25-26)</ref> <title>Deuteronomy</title> 20 gives instruction regarding warfare and battle, starting from the spiritual and practical preparation of the army and the command to trust <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>. Between these instruction is present the divine command of total destruction through “<rs type="practice">consecration</rs>” of the <placeName type="etnic" key="canaanites">Canaanites</placeName> and the action needed to purify the territory from their presence, followed with what to do and do not.</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>פְּסִילֵ֥י אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם תִּשְׂרְפ֣וּן בָּאֵ֑שׁ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹד֩ כֶּ֨סֶף וְזָהָ֤ב עֲלֵיהֶם֙ וְלָקַחְתָּ֣ לָ֔ךְ פֶּ֚ן תִּוָּקֵ֣שׁ בּ֔וֹ כִּ֧י תוֹעֲבַ֛ת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ הֽוּא׃</quote></foreign></p>
                            <p>You shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire. You shall not desire the silver and gold on them and take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination for the <persName type="divine" key="lord">Lord</persName> your <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>.</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>וְלֹא־תָבִ֤יא תֽוֹעֵבָה֙ אֶל־בֵּיתֶ֔ךָ וְהָיִ֥יתָ חֵ֖רֶם כָּמֹ֑הוּ שַׁקֵּ֧ץ ׀ תְּשַׁקְּצֶ֛נּוּ וְתַעֵ֥ב ׀ תְּֽתַעֲבֶ֖נּוּ כִּי־חֵ֥רֶם הֽוּא׃ {פ</quote></foreign></p>
                    <p>Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house and become accursed like it. You shall utterly detest it and abhor it for it is <foreign>ḥērem</foreign>.</p></item>
                        <item><p>b. (<ref type="lit">Josh 6,17-18.21</ref>; in particular <ref type="lit">Josh 6,18-19</ref>). The term <foreign>herem</foreign> is used in the <title>Book of Joshua</title>, chapters 6 and 7, referring to the city of <placeName key="jericho">Jericho</placeName> and what, of its content, has to be <rs type="practice">consecrated</rs> to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>.  Everything had to be destroyed, except for "the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron" which were to go into "<persName type="divine" key="yhwh">YHWH</persName>'s treasury" <ref type="lit">(6:19)</ref>. The previous verses indicate the religious obligation of <rs type="practice">prescription</rs> and, as a result of not following it, ending up as part of the <rs type="practice">prescription</rs> itself (<ref type="lit">Josh 6,18</ref>).</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>וְרַק־אַתֶּם֙ שִׁמְר֣וּ מִן־הַחֵ֔רֶם פֶּֽן־תַּחֲרִ֖ימוּ וּלְקַחְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַחֵ֑רֶם וְשַׂמְתֶּ֞ם אֶת־מַחֲנֵ֤ה יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לְחֵ֔רֶם וַעֲכַרְתֶּ֖ם אוֹתֽוֹ׃</quote></foreign></p>
                            <p>But you must beware of that which is <rs type="practice">proscribed</rs>, or else you will be proscribed: if you take anything from that which is <rs type="practice">proscribed</rs>, you will cause the camp of <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName> to be <rs type="practice">proscribed</rs>; you will bring calamity upon it.</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>וְכֹ֣ל ׀ כֶּ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֗ב וּכְלֵ֤י נְחֹ֙שֶׁת֙ וּבַרְזֶ֔ל קֹ֥דֶשׁ ה֖וּא לַיהֹוָ֑ה אוֹצַ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה יָבֽוֹא׃ </quote></foreign></p>                            
                            <p>All the silver and gold and objects of copper and iron are <rs type="practice">consecrated</rs> to <persName type="divine" key="god">GOD</persName>; they must go into the treasury of <persName type="divine" key="god">GOD</persName>.</p></item>                    
                        <item> <p>c. (<ref type="lit">Deut 20,16-18</ref>; in particular <ref type="lit">Deut 20,17</ref>). The passage names six different populaces and cultures that the jews had to subject to <foreign>herem</foreign> (verb): <placeName type="etnic" key="amorites">Amorites</placeName>, <placeName type="etnic" key="canaanites">Canaanites</placeName>, <placeName type="etnic" key="perizzites">Perizzites</placeName>, <placeName type="etnic" key="hittites">Hittites</placeName>, <placeName type="etnic" key="hivites">Hivites</placeName>, <placeName type="etnic" key="jebusites">Jebusites</placeName>. This brutal order of action tecnically led to the conquest of <placeName key="canaan">Canaan</placeName> and can be referred to as a true extermination (<persName key="raanan_boustan">Ra'anan Boustan</persName>, 2010: "<quote>a thoroughly violent commandment […] in modern terms would be characterized as genocide</quote>”).</p>
                            <p><foreign><quote>כִּֽי־הַחֲרֵ֣ם תַּחֲרִימֵ֗ם הַחִתִּ֤י וְהָאֱמֹרִי֙ הַכְּנַעֲנִ֣י וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י הַחִוִּ֖י וְהַיְבוּסִ֑י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוְּךָ֖ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ </quote></foreign></p>
                            <p>No, you must proscribe them—the <placeName type="etnic" key="hittites">Hittites</placeName> and the <placeName type="etnic" key="amorites">Amorites</placeName>, the <placeName key="canaanites">Canaanites</placeName> and the <placeName type="etnic" key="perizzites">Perizzites</placeName>, the <placeName type="etnic" key="hivites">Hivites</placeName> and the <placeName type="etnic" key="canaan">Jebusites</placeName>—as your <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> <foreign>יהוה</foreign> has commanded you</p></item></list>
                    <p>3. <hi rend="italic"><rs type="practice">Curse</rs></hi>, as semantic development based on part-whole relationship, from “Accursed Status”.</p>
                    <list rend="bulletted"><item>a. <ref type="lit">(Zac 14,11)</ref> The chapters talks about <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName>, attacked and under siege from the “nations” but promptly defended by the returning <rs type="belief">Messiah</rs>, so that the city itself will not be overtrown. The <rs type="belief">Messiah</rs> will then recover his people and the territory and begin the reign of the <persName type="divine" key="lord">Lord</persName> on earth.
                        <p><foreign><quote>וְיָ֣שְׁבוּ בָ֔הּ וְחֵ֖רֶם לֹ֣א יִֽהְיֶה־ע֑וֹד וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ {ס</quote></foreign></p>
                        <p>People will live there, the <rs type="practice">curse</rs> will be broken, and <placeName key="jerusalem">Yerushalayim</placeName> will live in safety.</p></item>
                    <item>b. <ref type="lit">(Mal 3,24)</ref> Chapter 3 of <title>Malachi</title> narrates the coming of the two <rs type="belief">messengers</rs>; one to prepare the way of the <persName type="divine" key="lord">Lord</persName>, and one to be the <rs type="belief">Messenger</rs>. The coming of the second will be awesome and terrible, but with a purpose: to clean, not to destroy, and purify the <rs type="systems">Sons of Levi</rs> (<rs type="systems">priests</rs>), as <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>’s ultimate purpose is to cleanse his world. The chapter then talks about returning to <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> his due: He asks for repentance, in particular from the people of <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName>. This is the reason behind the threat of a “<rs type="practice">curse</rs>” and the withholding of <rs type="practice">blessings</rs>; instructions are given to how to repent.
                        <p><foreign><quote>וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב בָּנִ֖ים עַל־אֲבוֹתָ֑ם פֶּן־אָב֕וֹא וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ חֵֽרֶם׃
                            הנה אנכי שולח לכם את אליה הנביא לפני בוא יום יהוה הגדול והנורא</quote></foreign></p>
                        <p>And he will turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a <rs type="practice">Curse</rs>.</p></item></list>                                                     
                    <p>4. <hi rend="italic">With the general meaning of <rs type="practice">Excommunication</rs></hi>, no longer in the semantic field of destruction; refers to social exclusion from the cult and the community. This meaning gets further developed in Talmudic literature: <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> as punishment for disloyalty; it can be differentiated between temporary <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> (<foreign>מנוּדה</foreign>, <foreign><rs type="practice">niddui</rs></foreign>) and permanent <rs type="practice">excommunication</rs> (<foreign>מוּחרם</foreign>)</p>
                    <list rend="bulletted"><item><p>a. <ref type="lit">(Ezra 10,8)</ref> In chapter 10 of <title>Ezra</title>, the people decided to forsake their sin and he <rs type="practice">prayed</rs> and humbled himself on behalf of them because of this. His people were then struck by the need to repent, following the exemple of <persName type="biblical" key="ezra">Ezra</persName>’s confession. Thanks to the counsel of <persName type="biblical" key="sechaniah">Shechaniah</persName>,  <persName type="biblical" key="ezra">Ezra</persName> calls upon the people to swear an <rs type="practice">oath</rs>. Significantly, <persName type="biblical" key="ezra">Ezra</persName> began with the leaders; he expected them to make things right with <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName> first. Each case is then examined over a long, three month period and we are given the list of those found guilty.</p>
                        <p><foreign><quote>ח  וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָבוֹא לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת הַיָּמִים, כַּעֲצַת הַשָּׂרִים וְהַזְּקֵנִים--יָחֳרַם, כָּל-רְכוּשׁוֹ; וְהוּא יִבָּדֵל, מִקְּהַל הַגּוֹלָה</quote></foreign></p>
                    <p>And whoever will not come within three days - according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders - his property will be <foreign>ḥērem</foreign> and he will be separated from the assembly of the exile.</p></item>  
                        <item><p>b. <ref type="lit">(Babylonian Talmud Torah 6,14)</ref> The entire chapter 6 of <title>Talmud</title> explains the different kinds of <rs type="practice">ban</rs> a person can be put (or fall) under; between those are the <rs type="practice">niddui</rs> and the complete form of <foreign>herem</foreign>. Twenty-four reasons are enumerated to justify such <rs type="practice">ban</rs>.</p>
                            <quote>When does the above apply? When the <rs type="practice">ban</rs> was imposed because he acted disrespectfully to a <rs type="systems">Torah sage</rs>. However, a person who was placed under a <rs type="practice">ban</rs> of <rs type="practice">ostracism</rs> for another reason for which such a <rs type="practice">ban</rs> may be declared - even if the <rs type="practice">ban</rs> was declared by a person of the lowest stature in <placeName key="israel">Israel</placeName> - the <rs type="practice">nasi</rs> and all Jews are obligated to abide by the terms of the <rs type="practice">ban</rs> until he repents for the matter for which the <rs type="practice">ban</rs> was imposed, and the <rs type="practice">ban</rs> is lifted.
                                A <rs type="practice">ban</rs> of <rs type="practice">ostracism</rs> is imposed upon a person - either man or woman - for [the following] 24 reasons […]
                        </quote></item></list>
                    <p>5. With the meaning of “<hi rend="italic">fisherman net</hi>” or, in an extended specter based in a more literal translation, “perforated”. Etymologically unrelated as of today studies but graphically based on the same hebrew root.</p>
                    <list rend="bulletted"><item><p>a. <ref type="lit">(Ezek 32,3)</ref> <title>Ezekiel</title> chapter 32 uses a great simile to visualize <placeName key="egypt">Egypt</placeName> and the <rs type="systems">Pharaoh</rs> as a monster of the sea; <persName type="divine" key="god">God</persName>, symbolically talking to the enemy, promises to capture him in a great fisherman net and drag him to land. There he would rot and become food for birds and beasts.</p>
                        <p><foreign><quote>כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֔ה וּפָרַשְׂתִּ֤י עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶת־רִשְׁתִּ֔י בִּקְהַ֖ל עַמִּ֣ים רַבִּ֑ים וְהֶעֱל֖וּךָ בְּחֶרְמִֽי׃ </quote></foreign></p>
                        <p>Thus said the Sovereign <persName type="divine" key="god">GOD</persName>: I will cast My net over you in an assembly of many peoples, and you shall be hauled up in My toils. </p></item></list>                      
                                  </div>                
                <div type="textpart" n="catalogue_of_testimonies">
                    <head>Catalogue of testimonies</head>
                    <p><hi rend="italic">Semantic field of Holiness</hi> (HS as Holy Status; C as Consacrated; PFOU as Prohibited from ordinary usage; SFTC as Separated from the cult)</p>
                    <list rend="bulleted"><item>a)	<ref type="lit">Lev 27,21</ref> (HS, C, SFTC)</item>
                        <item>b)	<ref type="lit">Lev 27,28-29</ref> (HS, C, PFOU)</item>
                        <item>c)	<ref type="lit">Num 18,14.29</ref> (HS,SFTC)</item>
                        <item>d)	<ref type="lit">Ezek 44,29</ref> (HS, SFTC)</item>
                        <item>e)	<ref type="lit">Josh 7,1.11</ref> (HS)</item>
                        <item>f)	<ref type="lit">Sifra to Number 10,29 of Ramban commentary</ref></item></list>
                    <p></p>
                    <p><hi rend="italic">Semantic field of defiled status</hi> (AS as Accursed Status; AAR as Apostasy as reason; LTD as Leads to destruction; PWPR as People with polytheistic religions)</p>
                    <list rend="bulletted"><item>a)       <ref type="lit">Exod 22,19</ref> (AS, AAR, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>b)	 <ref type="lit">Deut 7,2-4.25-26</ref> (AS, AAR, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>c)	 <ref type="lit">Deut 13,14-17</ref> (AS, AAR, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>d)	 <ref type="lit">Deut 20,10-20</ref> (AS, AAR, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>e)	 <ref type="lit">Jer 25,9</ref> (AS, AAR, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>f)	 <ref type="lit">Num 20,2-3</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>g)	 <ref type="lit">Deut 2,34</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item> h)	 <ref type="lit">Deut 3,6</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item> i)	 <ref type="lit">Josh 2,10</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item> j)	 <ref type="lit">Josh 6,17-18.21</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>k)	 <ref type="lit">Josh 8,26</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>l)	<ref type="lit">Josh 10,1.28.35.37.39.40</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>m)	<ref type="lit">Josh 11,11</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>n)	<ref type="lit">Josh 12,20-21</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>o)	<ref type="lit">Judg 1,17-21</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>p)	<ref type="lit">I Kings 9,20-21</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>q)	<ref type="lit">Jer 50,21.26</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>r)	<ref type="lit">Jer 51,3</ref> (AS, LTD, PWPR)</item>
                        <item>s)	<ref type="lit">Josh 7,12-13.15</ref> (AS, LTD)</item>
                        <item>t)	<ref type="lit">Josh 22,20</ref> (AS, LTD)</item>
                        <item>u)	<ref type="lit">I Chron 2,7</ref>  (AS, LTD)</item>
                        <item>v)	<ref type="lit">Isa 43,28</ref> (AS)</item></list>
                   <p></p>
                   <p><hi rend="italic">Semantic development</hi>, following the ideals of Diachronic Prototype Semantics (as in Geeraerts, 1997); the evolution of meaning can be tracked through semantic extentions or changes on denotation levels, both in traduction and trascriptions of holy texts and Talmudic Literature.</p>
                        <list rend="bulletted"><item>a)	Mal 3,24</item>
                            <item>b)	<ref type="lit">Zac 14,11</ref></item>
                            <item>c)	<ref type="lit">Ezra 10,8</ref></item>
                            <item>d)	<ref type="lit">Talmud Torah 6,14</ref></item></list>                    
                    <p></p>        
                    <p><hi rend="italic">Etymologically unrelated</hi> uses of the same Hebrew root and transliteration.</p>
                    <list rend="bulletted"><item>a)	<ref type="lit">Ezek 32,3</ref></item></list>                       
                                           </div>
                          </div>            
            <div type="bibliography" subtype="studies">
                <head>Bibliography</head>
                <p>BOUSTAN, R. S. = Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity, Leiden, 2010.</p>
                <p>BRIGGS, C. A.; BROWN, F.; DRIVER, S. R. = Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, re-edited, Oxford, 1994.</p> 
                <p>COHEN, A. = The Babylonian Talmud, Cambridge, 2013.</p>
                <p>DE PRENTER, J. = The Contrastive Polysemous Meaning of Cherem in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach, master course presentation, University of Tilburg and the Catholic University of Leuven, 2010/2011.</p>
                 <p>DRAZIN, I. = Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets, Jerusalem, 2009, pp. 64-69.</p>
                 <p>DRIVER, S. R. = A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy, Second Edition, Edinburgh, 1896, pp. 98-100.</p>
                 <p>EWALD, H. = The Antiquities of Israel, London, 1876.</p>
                 <p>HOFREITER, C. = Genocide in Deuteronomy and Christian interpretation, in FIRTH, D. G., Interpreting Deuteronomy. Issues and approaches, Westmont, 2012.</p>
                 <p>HURVITZ, M. M.; KARESH, S. E., in NEUSNER, J. = Encyclopedia of Judaism, 2005, p. 205.</p>
                 <p>KEIL, C. F. = Manual of Biblical Archeology, in Clark's Foreign Theological Library, new series, vol. xxxii, Edinburgh, 1887.</p>
                 <p>LILLEY, J. P. U. = Understanding the herem in Tyndale Bulletin, vol. 44, Cambridge, 1993, pp. 171-173.</p>
                 <p>SAALCHUTZ, J. L. = Archäologie der Hebräer, Königsberg, 1856.</p>
                 <p>SOGGIN, J. A. = Joshua: a commentary, London, 1972, pp. 97-98.</p>
                 <p>WIESNER, J. = Der Bann, in Seiner Geschichtlichen Entwicklung auf dem Boden des Judenthums, Leipsic, 1864.</p>
                 <p>WOOD, L. J. = חרם, in GLEASON L.; ARCHER jr; HARRIS R.;WALTKE B. K., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Chicago, 1980, pp. 324-325.</p>
            </div>
            <div type="bibliography" subtype="sitography">
                <head>Sitography</head>
                <p><ref corresp="https://www.biblegateway.com">Bible Gateway</ref></p>
                <p><ref corresp="https://www.sefaria.org">Sefaria - a Living Library of Torah</ref></p>
                <p><ref corresp="https://jewishencyclopedia.com">Jewish Encyclopedia</ref>, regarding “anathema” and “ban”</p>
                <p><ref corresp="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon">Blue Letter Bible</ref>, regarding the lexicon</p>
                <p><ref corresp="https://www.chabad.org">Chabad</ref></p>
                <p><ref corresp="https://enduringword.com">Enduring Word</ref></p>
            </div>
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    </text>
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