1111 - 4.4 Y 30 Friday, April 25, 1986 dra r,"'ilibeh artau THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS MEN'S CLUB of CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK is proud to honor OP-ED REV. JAMES LYONS Founder and Director of the Ecumenical Institute for Jewi41-Christion Studies • as our Death Penalty MAN OF THE YEAR Continued from Page 4 at our Men's Club Shabbat Services May 3, 1986 Services 9 a m., Rabbi Groner's Sermon 11:40 a.m. Luncheon honoring "Jim" at 12:30 p.m. Adults - $10, Children - $5 (payment in advance - can't accept money on Shabbat) Please send check to: Cong. Shaarey Zedek 27375 Bell Rd., Southfield, Ml. 48086 Phone: Selma Lerner 357-5544, Arnold Michlin 626-1570 Mark London 661-9091 rjr Over three generations of service, value confidence & professionalism The Finest Expressions of Love comes from GEM DIAMOND SPECIALIST Established 1919 AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY CIA IN GRADING 8 EVALUATION 3040 TELEGRAPH RD., BIRMINGHAM, MI 48010, SUITE 134 HOURS. Doily 10 00-5 30 Thurs. 10:00-8:30 Sot 10:00-5 00 I Oa.: lEttl.:1.1.:1, 1 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 is pleased to announce the arrival of . GENE BOGUS impressive cutting, coloring & permanent waving and .NATASHA manicures • pedicures • liquid & linen wraps 626-8020 28657 Orchard Lake Rd. o Farmington Hills • Ml There were several jurisdic- ing. The latter would include the tions in ancient Israel adjudicat- modern category of limited men- ing offenses. Minor transgres- tal capacity or temporary insan- sions were judged by a tribunal of ity while the- crime was being three experts. Major crimes came committed. A person convicted of to the attention of a superior accidental slaying was permitted court of 23 persons sitting in to reach a City of Refuge where Jerusalem. The court of last re- he could remain safey away from sort, with jurisdiction in rare of- the power of the avenger, until fenses, was the Great Sanhedrin the death of the reigning High of 71 judges also sitting in Priest. Upon the demise of that Jerusalem. Only the most official, he would return, with learned were appointed to the impunity, to his home and re- courts of 23 and finally 71. Again, sume his former life. If the court judges the slaying no one was permitted to sit in judgment of a person to whom he deliberate, sentence of death was was related. The judges had to passed. There was great reluc- tance to pass such judgment. A treat all litigants alike. Accuser and accused either Sanhedrin proclaiming the death stood or sat in front of the judges. sentence once in seven years was It was not permissible for the .called "destructive." Rabbi litigants to influence the judges Eleazar ben Azaryah said: "Once in any way; they had to wear in 70 years," The eminent schol- similar clothes. Otherwise, the ars Tarphon and Akiva stated: "If more opulent might have gained we had been members of a an advantage over the poor. If 12 Sanhedrin, never would a person judges acquit and 11 convict, the have been executed" (Mak.1, 10). accused is innocent. If 12 convict A person put to death can never and 11 acquit, judges are added to be restored. Exile or lifetime secure a majority to declare him prison were alternatives. innocent. In all fairness, we must add the The Talmud states (Sanhedrin statement made by Rabban 17a): "If a Sanhedrin is unanim- Simon ben Gamliel, a slightly ous for conviction, the prisoner is younger contemporary of these to be acquitted." Surely, prej- outstanding rabbis at the head of udice against the accused must the Beth Din in his generation. be at work, if no one can find He opined, "In that case they mitigating circumstances and would have multipled the shed- vote for acquittal. ding of blood in Israel." Much of Much depends on the motive of the attitude toward the death the crime. The Law of Moses con- penalty was influenced by the se- tains the distinction between vere attitude of the Roman gov- premediated and accidental slay- ernment toward imposing this 13 Area Rabbis Support Death Penalty Opposition A prayer service and rally against the death penalty will be held 3 p.m. Sunday on the Kern Block, Woodward and Monroe. The rally is sponsored by Reli- gious Leaders Against the Death Penalty (RLADP), the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights and the Michigan Coalition'. Against the Death Penalty. The Kern Block is in the area where the last Michigan execu- tion was held in 1830. Following the rally, participants will walk .six blocks to Central United Methodist Church at Woodward and Adams where a play, The 13-; Man, will be shown. Thirteen cents is the cost of electricity used to execute a person in an electric chair. Thirteen ant rabbis have endorsed a statement by the RLDAP against the death pen- alty. The 13 are: . Rabbi Kenneth Cohen, Cong. Shaarey Zedek; Rabbi Ernst Con- rad, Temple Kol Ami; Rabbi Irwin Groner, Cong. Shaarey Zedek; Rabbi Harold Loss, Tem- ple ,Israel; Rabbi David Nelson, Cong. Beth 'Shalom; Rabbi Nor- man Roman, Temple Beth El; Rabbi Gerald Schuster, Temple Beth El (Flint); Rabbi Efry Spectre, Adat Shalom Synagogue; Rabbi Robert Syme, Temple Israel; Rabbi Richard Weiss, Temple Beth Jacob (Pon- tiac); Rabbi Lane Steinger,.Tera- ple Emann-El;-Rahbi Richard C. - Hertz, Temple Beth-El; and Rabbi Dannel Schwartz, Temple Beth El. The statement said in part: "Both proponents and oppo- nents of the death penalty can find ample support for their re- spective posijions in Jewish sources.° We oppose capital punishment. We do so on reli- gious, 'spiritual sand theological grounds. We believe that the di- vine spirit is present in the world acting through justice and through mercy. We therefore de- mand that justice be carried out for all crimes, but that it ad- ministered with compasion. "We decry violence and sym- pathize' with its victims, but we insist that violence must not be institutionalized. We revere life and lament its lois or degrada- tion through criminal acts, but we adamantly oppose taking the lives of criminals. "We join with the American Jewish Committee, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform), the Jewish Peace Fel- lowship, the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, the Rabbinical Assem- bly (Conservative), the Synagogue Council of America (interdenominational), the Union of American Hebrew Congrega- tions (Reform) in opposing the death penalty and in calling for its abolition in those places where it exists . . " - , t , .rt; ty