Let Us Entertain You
Punishment
S ID CAESAR
Continued from preceding page
In Cabaret Evening with Dancing
SATURDAY9
MARCH 10, 1990
9:00 p.m.
,
admission: $20.00
\ \ e
—
Reserved Seating
For further information call: 661-1000, ext. 293
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
6600 w. Maple, W. Bloomfield, MI 48322
Tickets also available at:
7-/ cKci- VZZA4srm--,
co-sponsored by: Kedem Wines
--x
m l
\
THE
0.
HUDSON'S, HARMONY HOUSE
& SOUND WAREHOUSE
CALL-FOR-TIX (313) 645-6666
i e
FUNDED IN PART BY MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS AND
II-
MANNY AND NATALIE CHARACH ENDOWMENT FUND AT THE JCC
e
‘•
Are Soviet Jews in Danger?
Learn more at the Jewish Community Council
Community Assembly, featuring
NCSJ Chairperson Shoshana Cardin
Wednesday, March 28 8:00 p.m.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Bell Road at 11 Mile, Southfield
DYSAUTONOMIA
Designs by
Charles Gassam
SPECIALIZING IN
LCUSTOM LAMINATED FURNITURE—I
Help meet the needs of
Dysautonomic children.
• Tables
• Wall Units
• Dining Rooms • Custom Bedrooms
C.C.C. Cabinetry
54
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1990
941-3050
Dysautonomia Foundation Inc.
4
20 E 46th Street Room 302 NY, NY 10017
212/949-6644
•••••• ■ ••
behavior of a priest's
daughter, deceiving one's hus-
band about chastity prior to
marriage, raping a betrothed
woman, insulting or striking
one's parents, rebelling
against their authority and
profaning the Sabbath public-
ly. With all these possible pro-
vocations, the practice,
however, of capital punish-
ment seldom happened, if
ever. The Talmud says, refer-
ring to a person put to death
by stoning, "It never happen-
ed and it never will happen!'
And the law was given mere-
ly "that you may study it and
receive reward for the pure
study." (Sanh 11:6, Sanh
71A.) If the discussions in the
Talmud are for academic pur-
poses, the whole tendency of
the rabbis was toward the
complete abolition of the
death penalty.
In other words, it is possible
that all the discussions of
capital punishment in the
Talmud were not the discus-
sions of actual historical prac-
tices, but a kind of abstract
speculation to be studied for
the sake of study itself, just as
all the laws of temple sacrifice
were preserved and studied
for many generations after
those practices ceased.
Without rejecting the death
penalty in principle (for that
would have been rejecting the
rules of this sedra outright),
the rabbis made implementa-
tion of the death penalty so
impossible that it could not
happen. Rather than apply
any of the four methods of
death penalty, the rabbis
decided to rely on divine
justice. The guilty would be
accountable to God.
Thus, witnesses were
scrupulously examined and
routinely disqualified for the
slightest question of their
fitness. No circumstantial
evidence was permitted in in-
stances of capital crimes. The
witnesses had to be present,
and two witnesses were
necessary. A most elaborate
system of procedures was
developed so that a court
would have to overcome many
obstacles both before and
after a trial. The rabbinical
courts believed in punishing
the guilty but not in capital
punishment.
The Jewish revulsion
toward capital punishment
became evident with the
establishment of the Jewish
state in 1948. When the penal
laws were revised in 1954, the
death penalty was abolished
except for individuals guilty
of participating in the crime
of genocide or for acts of
treason during actual war-
fare. Only Adolf Eichmann,
the administrator of the Nazi
destruction of the Jews of
Europe, has been executed in
Israel since 1948.
Why are people asking
state legislatures to rein-
troduce capital punishment
for certain crimes? Is it
because more and more peo-
ple are angry and frustrated
by a siege mentality that has
gripped our inner cities? Is it
a means of people lashing out,
crying for revenge? The death
penalty will not correct the
situation of the homeless, the
disenfranchised, the hungry
or the drug addict. Humanity
has come a long and difficult
way out of savagery. The
angry call from the mob for
blood revenge can only revert
us to savagery.
What is the bottom line
summarizing this sedra?
Though many crimes are
depicted here calling for a
death penalty, experience in
Jewish history proves that
punishment by death was in-
compatible with the
teachings of Judaism and a
sin against Jewish law. So-
meone unjustly put to death
for a crime he did not commit
could never be called back
before a bar of justice and
have the mistake corrected.
Jewish tradition made the
imposition of the death pen-
alty impossible, even though
the laws of capital punish-
ment remained on the books.
I SYNAGOGUES
Adat Shalom
Sets Workshop
Adat Shalom Nursery
School will hold a "Purim
Fun and Costume Factory"
from 10 a.m. to noon on
March 4. Co-sponsored by
Jewish Experiences For
Families, the workshop will
offer creative Purim crafts for
pre-schoolers and their
parents.
Participants will make
Purim costumes and will be
entertained by "Mordecai the
Magician!'
Thei-e is no charge. For
reservations by Feb. 26, call
the synagogue, 851-5105.
Hillel Families
Conduct Service
Hillel Day School families
of Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses will participate in
Shabbat services Feb. 24 com-
mencing with the Mincha
and concluding with the Hav-
dalah services.
The Mincha Service will be
conducted by Carrie Apsel,
Dayna Apsel, Ashley Bellet,
Mira Freilich, Debbie
Goldman, Freddie Goldman,
Ted Goodman, David Lanx-
c-/
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