Double Punishment

There is a principle in Halacha called, קים ליה בדרבה מיניה. This is an Aramaic phrase indicating that when one commits a double sin, he only receives the more severe punishment . For example, if one steals an object on Shabbat, and carries it from a private domain to a public domain, he is punished for desecrating Shabbat (סקילה)and not for stealing. In general, there is never a situation where one can receive two punishments for the same offense, either. There are two exceptions to this rule, both mentioned in פרשת כי תצא. The first is the בן סורר ומורה, the rebellious son. In addition to receiving the death penalty, he also gets lashes. And the second case is מוציא שם רע, accusing one’s wife of being promiscuous before the marriage when she was Halachically engaged. The husband receives both lashes and pays a penalty of 100 silver. The בן סורר ומורה is difficult to understand and never actually happened. But the מוציא שם רע case shows that words alone are capable of creating irreparable damage.