Tinok shenishba

Tinok shenishba (Hebrew: תינוק שנשבה, literally, "captured infant") is a talmudical term that refers to a Jewish individual who sins inadvertently as a result of having been raised without an appreciation for the thought and practices of Judaism. Its status is widely applied in contemporary Orthodox Judaism to unaffiliated Jews today.

Tinok shenishba is short for Tinok shenishba bein hanochrim, which translates as, "An infant captured [and consequently raised] among gentiles." an individual doesn't literally have to have been "captured" as an infant to fall within the definition of a tinok shenishba.

Because a tinok shenishba was not raised with proper guidance towards appreciation of Jewish life, law, and ritual, they are not accountable for not living in accordance with the Torah.

Reference to the concept of tinok shenishba occurs in the Talmud. In Shavuos 5a, the Gemarah states that responsibility for inadvertent transgression is only placed upon an individual who knew the correct law at two points in time and forgot the law sometime in between. If that individual knew the law and subsequently forgot the law, and never again remembered or received a reminder, they would be an unwitting transgressor. Similarly, if an individual never knew the law in the first place, and subsequently learned the law, they would also be an unwitting transgressor. This latter example could fall under the category of a tinok shenishba.

In Shabbat 68b, there is a dispute between Rav and Shmuel on one side and Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish on the other in regards to in what type of situations would a tinok shenishba, along with a convert who was similarly raised among gentiles, be responsible for punishment and/or repentance along with the offering of animal sacrifices in the Holy Temple upon transgression of the laws of Shabbat. The halacha follows that a tinok shenishba would only be required to do one act of repentance for the many, many times they were in transgression because all their sins stemmed from a single instance of not knowing the proper laws to obey.

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