For twenty-four offenses an individual is excommunicated, be it man or woman.¹ They are as follows: (1) one who spurns a messenger of the court;² (2) one who degrades a wise man even after his death;³ (3) one who calls his neighbor “slave”;⁴ (4) one who treats lightly even one word of rabbinical law, let alone, biblical law;⁵ (5) one who was summoned by the messenger of the court to appear in court at a given date, and did not come;⁶ (6) one who does not accept the court’s decision is excommunicated until he responds;⁷, 112b and 113a. (7) one who harbors something that can do harm, such as a dangerous dog, a defective ladder, is excommunicated until the menace is removed;⁸, 15b. (8) one who sells land to a gentile (adjacent to that of an Israelite’s) is excommunicated until he accepts liability for all accidents (damages) caused by the gentile to the Israelite residing next door; ⁹, 114a. (9) one who testifies against a Jew in gentile courts and is awarded money not in accord with Jewish law, is placed under the ban until he repays;¹⁰, 113b. (10) a butcher who is a priest and does not set aside the prescribed gifts¹¹ and give them to another priest, is excommunicated until he does so;¹² (11) one who desecrates the second day of the holy days¹³ observed by those living abroad, even though it be a custom;¹⁴ (12) one who performs work on the eve of Passover after midday;¹⁵ (13) one who invokes God’s name in vain, or for an oath in inane matters;¹⁶ (14) one who causes the community to profane God’s name;¹⁷ (15) one who causes the community to eat consecrated offerings outside its authorized place;¹⁸ (16) one who calculates the years and institutes the new months outside the Holy Land; ¹⁹, 63a. (17) one who causes the blind to stumble;²⁰ (18) one who withholds the community from performing a meritorious deed;²¹ (19) a butcher who is found with “Trefah”;²² Lit “torn.” Term signifies flesh of clean beasts rendered unfit for food as a result of either being mauled or killed by beasts of prey, injured, found defective or unskillfully slaughtered, although in valid fashion.(20) a butcher who does not examine his knife before a scholar;²³(21) one who induces an erection;²⁴ (22) one who divorces his wife and then enters into a partnership or business with her which brings them together, when they come to the court they are put under ban;²⁵(23) a scholar with a bad reputation;²⁶ (24) one who excommunicates another needlessly is himself deserving of excommunication.²⁷.

footnotes: ¹ Berakoth 19a. ² Moed Katan 16a. ³ Berakoth 19a. ⁴ Kiddushin 28a. ⁵ Berakoth 19a. ⁶ Baba Kamma 112b. ⁷ Ibid. ⁸ Ibid. ⁹ Ibid. ¹⁰ Ibid. ¹¹ Special gifts, such as the breast and shank of peace offerings, were set aside for the priests. ¹² Hullin 132b. ¹³ Pesahim 52a. ¹⁴ Betzah 4b. ¹⁵ Pesahim 50b. ¹⁶ Nedarim 7b. ¹⁷ J. T. Moed Katan 3:1. ¹⁸ Berakoth 19a. ¹⁹ Ibid. ²⁰ Moed Katan 17a. ²¹ J. T. Moed Katan 3:1. ²² Sanhedrin 25a. Terefah. ²³ Hullin 18a. ²⁴ Niddah 13b. ²⁵ Ketuboth 28a. ²⁶ Moed Katan 17a. ²⁷ Ibid