108 Mark Washofsky

however, asks us to consider more extreme examples of“ignorance of the law”: the infant taken captive by Gentiles or“the proselyte who converted among the Gentiles.” Neither of these persons could ever have been informed of the mitzvor; neither, therefore, could ever have“forgotten” what he has learned about them. Is such an individual considered a shogeg, a sinner(albeit an unintentional one) who must bring a sacrifice to atone for his transgression, or an anus, one who is coerced against his will into transgressing the law and is exempt from any culpability?*® The halakhah apparently follows the first interpretation: such a person is a shogeg, and when he learns of his error he must bring a sin offering.” At no time, though, does the “captive infant” motif(or, for that matter, the“converted among the Gentiles” motif) ever exit the realm of the hypothetical. The Talmud never considers the case of actual persons taken captive as infants and raised among Gentiles, nor does it apply the formula as a metaphor to frame any other set of circumstances.

The first prominent halakhist to transform the tinok shenishbah into a working legal narrative was, apparently, Maimonides (d. 1204), who utilized it as a justification for the maintenance of peaceable relations between Egypt ’s Rabbanite and Karaite communities.” The justification first appears in his commentary to the first chapter of Mishnah Hulin,”' where he discusses the rules concerning those Jews disqualified from serving as shohetim, ritual slaughterers. Among these are the apostal¢ (meshumad)®® who worships idols or who violates the Sabbath in public, both of whom are considered“like a non-Jew in all respects.” Also included are“heretics”(minim) such as the “Sadducees” and the“Boethians” who deny the existence of the Oral Torah. Those who founded these cults are deserving of death.” “But,” adds Rambam ,“those who were born to them and educated in their ways are considered to be coerced(ke‘anusim), and their status is that of a captive infant, since all of their sins are committed unintentionally(beshegagah).” He repeats this theme in his Code,