THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commenci fly with the iss1W o•.lnly 20. I951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Its Assl,ciation. National Editorial Association. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile. Suite st;5, Southfield. Mich. IS075. Second-•lass Postage Paid at Southfield. Nii•higan and Additional Nlailing . Offices. Subscription :;1() a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ DREW LIEBERWITZ Editor and Publisher Business Manager Advertising Manager klan Ilitsky. News Editor . . . I1(• (1I Press, an N(• ∎■ Edit or Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 29th of Adar, 5737, the /ollowing scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 35:1-40:38; 12:1-20. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 45:16-46:18. Sunday, Rosh Hodesh Nisan, Numbers 28:1-15 Candle lighting Friday, March 18, 6:24 p.m. VOL. LXXI, No. 2 Page Four Friday, March 18, 1977 Humanity's Price for Violence Four brothers are robbed of $30 and are killed to boot. Elderly are victims of young criminals because they are often helpless. A Nazi-minded insaned person wishes to kill the Jewish foreman of the firm he was sus- pended from and five other innocent people are his prey instead. Readers of the daily press can multiply occurrences in the crime wave that has struck this nation and the effect is so shock- ing that a horrified nation has begun to think in terms of extreme punishment for the crazed criminals. Last week's nightmarish experience for 134 who were held as hostages at the Na- tional Bnai Brith Headquarters and two other buildings in Washington escalated the anxieties over the spate of violence in this country and the increasing arrogance by kidnapers and hijackers throughout the world. The result of the fears created in the senseless crime waves is that the hitherto unpopular punishment by death is gaining . adherents. A return to capital punishment is evidenced in many states, and even in Michigan, which was among the first to abandon the death penalty and has adhered to that principle for a century and a half, now hears reverberations of advocacy of capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. The advocates of the death penalty con- tinue to overlook the moral factors. Of course, criminals must be punished, every effort must be made to prevent mur- derous acts and insanities. Does capital punishment prevent crime? There is, in- deed, a difference of opinion, but authorita- tive criminologists have not affirmed it. In Jewish tradition capital punishment has few adherents. While there were, in- deed, four ascribed methods of punishments by death, in ancient times — stoning, burn- ing, slaying and strangling — basic Jewish idealism rejects resort to the death penalty. There is a basic principle, and it affects all our actions. It is affirmed in Mishna Makkot (1:10), which is quoted below. It is related in the traditions set forth in the Talmud that the death penalty had not been imposed' in ancient Israel since the year 30 of the present era — some'40 years before, the destruction of the Temple. according to the strictest in- Eve n terpretation of ancient Jewish law which prescribed death for various offenses, such a verdict could be rendered only by a court of 23 judges, and if one of them dissented the sentence could not be imposed. The law also required that two witnesses had to be pro- duced who actually saw the criminal com- mit his crime. Discussing codes of justice in Jewish traditions, Prof. George Foote Moore, in his classic three-volume "Judaism," reviewed ancient procedures followed by Jews, and he also referred to the Mishnaic comments. He made these interesting analyses of the penalties, convictions and the imposition of the death penalty: In the delibe-rations of the judges, con- siderations tending to acquittal were given precedence. The decision was by a majority; a majority of one acquitted, but for conviction there must.be a majority of at least two. Even when the condemned man was on the way to the place of execution, if he or any one else had anything to offer in defense, he was recal- led and the new evidence taken. Once acquit- ted, however, he could not a second time be put in jeopardy, whatever new evidence against him might come to light. It is clear that with such a procedure con- viction- in capital cases was next to impossi- ble, and that this was the intention of the framers of the rules is equally plain. The Mis- hna itself brands a court which executes one man in seven years as ruinous. R. Eliezer B. Azariah said 'one in 70 years.' R. Tarfon and R. Akiba said, 'If we had been in the Sanhed- rin, no man would ever have been put to death,' on which R. Simeon ben Gamaliel makes the obvious reflection, 'They would multiply murderers in Israel.' It should be observed, however, that when the court was convinced of the guilt of the accused, though the evidence did not warrant his conviction and execution, they might imprison him on bread and water. There are phrases "obvious reflection" and "the intention of the framers" in the explanatory notes by the eminent Christian which indicate the firm intent of the rab- binic procedures against the death penalty. Prof. Moore's interpretive comments add weight to our contention that capital punishment had no place in Jewish tradi- tions, and the intentions of Jewish courts of law were to rule against it. Lunacy in Real m of Diplomacy Uganda's experiences — assuming that the Ugandans themselves would be the first to oust their crazed ruler if they had the - power — are rooted in so much barbarism that the test could well be judged by the reactions of Amin's fellow diplomats. He was only politely applauded in Cairo when haaddressed the representatives of 59 Arab and African nations last week. But his mere presence poses the question whether lunacy is acceptable in that bloc's diplomatic codes. There will no doubt be rejoicing in Uganda when the crazed dictator vanishes. But the role he is permitted to play among his fellow Muslims and in the Afro-Asian bloc remains a puzzle in statesmanship. Must sanity be sacrificed in diplomatic ranks when partisanship en bloc becomes the guiding principle in policy-making? The fright that has enveloped the entire world amidst the spreading terrorism may ._ have an effect upon the United Nations where action to stern terrorism has been scuttled due to the Arab-Communist obstructions. The role of the ambassadors of Iran, Egypt and Pakistan, which contrib- uted towards ending the Washingtonian threats by the Hanafi Muslims, may en- courage similar intercessions by the realis- tic statemen. AJTA Illustrated JPS Volume 'Jewish Minters and Medalists' Enriches Historical Knowledge Stamps, coins and medals, when _linked with important - personalities and events, provide interesting material for the study of history. Such significance attaches to the newest„' volume of the Jewish Publication Society which is devoted to a review of accomplishments by medalists and minters. In "Jewish Minters and Medalists," the beautifully illustrated and authoritatively compiled JPS volume, Daniel M. Friedenberg, curator of coins and medals at the Museum of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and Fellow of the American Numismatic Society, pictorially depicts the history of-- - the eminent personalities in the coinage and medal-creative arts. The rarest of medals, including the Fourth Century-, Yehud, and those of most recent times are included in Dr. Friedenberg's accumulated treasures. This is a sample of the man _ y scores of reproductions in the Friedenberg JPS book: saC tI T Jerusalem Coin-Medal For collectors of coins and medals and for those seeking an experience in the linking of art with history, the Friedenberg volume has special merit. The first part of the book deals with the role of Jewish moneyers, minters, and mint masters in medieval Europe and under the rule of Islam. The second part takes up the story of Jewish medalists from the 18th Century to present times, and - - includes the work of such prominent contemporary An' '`:an am Jewish sculptors as Chaim Gross, Jacques Lipchitz, Zorach, and Leonard Baskin. A special section is devoted to th6 production of medals in Israel. Major figures whose work is examined include- Jacob Abraham and his son Abraham Abramson, royal medalists in late-18th Century Germany; Samuel Judin, co-head of a Russian mint in the 18th Century; the Weiner Brothers of Belgium, the foremost Jewish medalists of the 19th Century; and Moritz Furst, whose works include a portrait medal of Andrew Jackson and the first American Jewish medal, occasioned by the death in 1816 of the patriot rabbi, Gershom Mendes Seixas. Friedenberg also cites Victor D. Brenner, who in 1909 engraved the head on the Lincoln penny; Benno Elkan, whose bronze menora stands in front of the Israeli Knesset; Paul Vincze, designer of the national currency of several nations; and Arthur Loewental, portraiter of Rufus Daniel Isaacs, First Marquess of Reading, among. others.