Torah Portion MII WOW A id1111.. 7 . 67 7 MINNA Who Shall Live Or Die? Judging Capital Punishment crime, but will do it anyway. Only in such cases could the court put someone to death.. The Mishnah Makkot 1:10 castigates a Sanhedrin that executes more than once in seven years as a "violent" court. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaraiah says once in 70 years. Rabbis Tarfon and Akiva exclaim that had they been in the oes Judaism favor the death Sanhedrin, no one would ever have penalty? Even a cursory been executed! The pendulum seems to reading of our portion indi- have swung against capital punishment. cates that, indeed, the Torah Yet in the final line of the Mishnah, mandates capital punishment for a - Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel objects to broad assortment of violent, ritual and his colleagues — you would increase moral crimes. bloodshed in Israel! Here we have a sec- Mishnah Sanhedrin (7:1) identifies ond rationale for capital pun- four forms of execution; these ishment — as a deterrent to are elaborated upon in great violent crime. detail by the Talmud. It On a conceptual level, would seem that Judaism is Judaism may defend capital very comfortable with capital punishment as a way of blot- punishment. ting evil out from our midst How can a "pro-life" reli- or in order to deter violent gion such as Judaism support crime. Yet on a practical level, the death penalty? Because the Halachah (Jewish law) God is the One who creates placed such extraordinary lim- and sanctifies all life, God also RABBI DANIEL its on the death penalty that it has the authority to determine could almost never be prac- NEVINS "who shall live and who shall ticed. Indeed, the Sanhedrin Special to the die." ceased executions more than Jewish News The Torah's stipulation of 2,000 years ago. capital punishment for certain crimes follows from its teaching that our Today's Issues . purpose in life is to create holiness; cer- What about capital punishment in our tain transgressions so profane life that day? If we look at the way in which cap- the ultimate punishment is mandated. ital punishment is practiced in America, In Deuteronomy, capital punishment is it seems utterly impossible to defend on repeatedly justified by the phrase, u'vi- you shall Jewish grounds. yarta harah mikerbekha — The standards of evidence are ludi- destroy the evil from your midst. crously low in this country — circum- On an ideological level, then, stantial evidence often suffices. Many Judaism certainly supports the notion of innocent people have been sentenced to capital punishment. Practically, however; death and executed in this country, as the rabbis understood the extraordinary DNA testing has now proven. Inmates care required to prevent the courts from are offered incentives to testify against killing people who were either innocent criminal defendants. or insufficiently aware of the conse- The proof of criminal intent in quences of their actions. They estab- American law is also worlds apart from lished very high standards of evidence the Jewish ideal. Not only is there no — two eyewitnesses had to testify to the need for prior warning to the criminal; crime; and such testimony could be dis- we execute the mentally retarded and missed for a broad variety of reasons. minors as well. Moreover, the rabbis required two Many studies have shown that witnesses for criminal intent. According American courts are far more likely to to the Tosefta (Sanhedrin 11:1), the wit- execute criminals who have murdered nesses must confront the criminal before white or female victims. Standards for the crime, warn him of its consequences criminal defense are haphazard, with and hear him declare that he knows that poor defendants far more likely to be what he is about to commit is a capital sentenced to death. As writer Scott Turrow has argued, we are also more Daniel Nevins is a spiritual leader of Shabbat Mishpatim Exodus 21:1-24:18; 30:11-16; II Kings 12:1-17 D Adat Shalom Synagogue. TORAH PORTION on page 58 - 51_ 111 30" BUILDING COMPANY HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALISTS Let the pros from CONSTRUCTION ZONE put our 26 years of building experience to work for your family. From blue prints, to permits, to final inspection... we do it all. 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