20 March 21 • 2019
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BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

‘Crime and Consequence’

A rabbi, lawyer and former prisoner explore 
the Jewish view of America’
s j 
ustice system.

M

any Jews are familiar with the 
statement from the first chap-
ter of Pirkei Avot that says the 
entire world rests on three things: Torah, 
prayer and good deeds. Fewer are aware 
that later in the same chapter three dif-
ferent things are cited: peace, truth and 
justice.
Those concepts form the basis of the 
Jewish approach to criminal justice, said 
Rabbi Shneur Silberberg of the Tugman 
Bais Chabad Torah Center in West 
Bloomfield. Like a three-legged stool, 
taking away one of the three will cause 
the structure to collapse.
“Crime and Consequence,
” a six-part 
course presented by Chabad, focuses 
on Jewish perspectives of the American 
justice system.
The series began last month and was 
offered by Bais Chabad; a similar course 
is currently being conducted by the 
Chabad Jewish Center of Bloomfield 
Hills. Both courses are under the aegis of 
the Jewish Learning Institute. 
The course’
s first session at Bais 
Chabad, “Lock and Key,
” examined 
American imprisonment practices from 
the perspectives of a rabbi, a defense 
attorney and a former inmate.
Silberberg discussed the case of a man 
who was convicted of murder at age 17 
and sentenced in 1976 to life in a maxi-
mum security prison with no chance of 
parole.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that 
life sentences without parole for minors 
were unconstitutional. While this offered 
another chance at a productive life for 
the prisoner, the victim’
s family members 
were outraged he might walk free.
Their viewpoints were opposites — 
and yet both are true, Silberberg said. 
“It’
s a highly emotional situation. We 

need to decide which story is more true.
”
He noted that the Torah and Talmud 
do not mention incarceration as a pun-
ishment.
The U.S. has the highest incarceration 
rates in the world, and that rate has 
grown enormously since 1972, when 
there were about 275,000 people impris-
oned in the U.S., until now, when there 
are more than 2.2 million. 
Americans need to ask what they are 
trying to accomplish with incarceration: 
Is it retribution, incapacitation, deter-
rence or rehabilitation? We also need to 
ask if current practices make us tough 
on crime or tough on criminals, he said. 
The trend of recidivism rates for released 
prisoners, now more than 65 percent, 
implies that incarceration alone does lit-
tle to stop crime.
Sanford Schulman of West Bloomfield, 
a criminal defense attorney, noted many 
prisoners suffer from mental illness and 

need treatment rather than imprison-
ment. Michigan ranks 47th in the nation 
in the number of beds for mental health 
patients; 21 Michigan psychiatric hospi-
tals have closed since 1984.
He decried minimum mandatory 
sentencing policies that strip judges of 
discretion.
Steve Horowitz, 67, of West 
Bloomfield spent 18 years behind bars 
for selling cocaine. 
He doesn’
t deny his crime or the 
appropriateness of his imprisonment, but 
he feels the mandatory minimum sen-
tences can be unjust and out of propor-
tion. Because of mandatory sentencing, 
he received a life sentence, though he 
was granted parole in November 2017.
He also said prisons do little to reha-
bilitate inmates. “Ten years ago, they 
offered auto shop and other types of 
vocational training,
” he said. “Now the 
most they offer are GED courses.
” ■

jews d
in 
the
A Prison 
Chaplain’
s View

Prison chaplains see the inherent worth 
of all humans, even those convicted of 
serious crimes.
“I listen to what they’
re going 
through,” said Rabbi Benny Greenwald, 
who works at Chabad’
s Friendship 
House in West Bloomfield, a center 
dedicated to helping 
people who are isolated 
because of mental health 
or addiction problems 
— problems that some-
times land them in jail.
Greenwald visits the 
Oakland County Jail reg-
ularly. Most of the men 
he sees there are those he knew through 
Friendship House, though the jail also 
refers prisoners who request a Jewish 
chaplain.
Before moving from New York to 
West Bloomfield three years ago with 
his wife, Bluma, “Rabbi Benny,” 29, 
attended a program at Chabad’
s Aleph 
Institute, founded by the late Lubavitcher 
Rebbe Menachem Schneerson in 1981 
to respond to the needs of Jewish pris-
oners.
The Aleph Institute also offers pro-
grams for prisoners’
 families, post-prison 
re-entry programs and advocacy for 
alternative sentencing.
As a chaplain, Greenwald listens to 
prisoners’
 stories. In most of them, he 
sees people yearning for a sense of 
purpose.
“People are complicated,” he said. 
“They may have done something wrong, 
but there’
s a lot of beauty in them as 
well. If they are alive today, it means God 
wants them.
“We need a justice system — the 
Torah calls for police and judges — 
but prison is not a Jewish concept,” 
Greenwald said. “People were created to 
be productive, and just locking them up 
denies them that ability. Rehabilitation 
would be a much better option, and I 
hope America can transition to that.” ■

— Barbara Lewis

Frumeth Polasky of the Kosins Family Foundation, Steve Horowitz, 

Rabbi Shneur Silberberg and Sanford Schulman

BARBARA LEWIS

Rabbi Benny 
Greenwald

Hannan Lis 
Elected Chair of 
Detroit Public 
TV’
s Board of 
Trustees

Detroit Public TV’
s (DPTV) Board of 
Trustees has elected Hannan Lis, prin-
cipal and chief operating officer of The 
WW Group Inc., as its new chair. 
 Timothy Nicholson, chief operating 
officer of PVS Chemicals, becomes 
chair-elect.
“Under Hannan’
s leadership, we will 
make great strides in our mission of tell-

ing the authentic story of Detroit, which 
we truly believe is the most important 
city in America.
” said DPTV CEO Rich 
Homberg.
Lis has been a member of the DPTV 
Board since 2011 and helped to guide 
governance, strategies and financial 
support for the station through its com-
mittees and as a charter member of the 

station’
s Smith Leadership Circle. 
“In a world with fake news, ques-
tionable journalistic standards and a 
changing media landscape, DPTV stands 
out as a unique source for quality infor-
mation, news, music, arts, education, 
science and high-impact community 
relevance,
” Lis said. ■
Hannan Lis

