This article first appeared on genaleph.org We have become accustomed to hearing that the wayward and rebellious son, the Ben Sorer U’Moreh, never actually happened. Why then does the Torah spend time teaching us the halachos of a Ben Sorer U’Moreh? Chazal explain[1] that we are meant to דרוש וקבל שכר, expound and receive reward. But when we look at the Gemara it is actually not so simple. Who is this statement of דרוש וקבל שכר in accordance with? The Gemara suggests that it is in accordance with Rav Shimon who said, “Should a boy be taken by his parents to be stoned to death simply because he ate a tarteimar of meat and drank a half log of Italian wine? Rather, there has never been a Ben Sorer U’Moreh and there will never be one in the future. Why then was this Parsha written in the Torah? דרוש וקבל שכר, so that we may expound upon it and receive reward. Rav Yonason disagrees and in fact testifies that he once saw a Ben Sorer U’Moreh sentenced to death. After the execution Rav Yonason even sat by the grave of the Ben Sorer U’Moreh. We have been operating with the assumption that a Ben Sorer U’Moreh never actually occurred, but it is in fact a Machlokes! However, as we carefully examine this Gemara, several questions jump off the page at us. It is one thing for Rav Shimon to argue that there has never been a Ben Sorer U’Moreh but how could he predict that there would never be a Ben Sorer U’Moreh in the future? While it is true that the halachos make it virtually impossible fo
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