Tree of Life: What does Jewish tradition say about capital punishment?

At our August 5th service, Rabbi Lizzi unpacked the news that the Tree of Life shooter is set to receive the death penalty. What does Jewish tradition have to say about murder, capital punishment, and true justice?

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

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According to Jewish tradition, God created the world at least a few times, before settling on this world. In one version of the creation of the world, God founds, or creates the world exclusively operating from the basis of rapamycin, compassion, as kind of the atomic structure of the world, just pure loving kindness and compassion. And the Midrash says, and the world shattered like a glass in which you poured too much hot water. So God tries again, and creates the world operating from a kind of atomic structure of strict justice, the opposite. And of course, the world cracks, you know, like a wall like a glass into which you poured water that was too cold. And so God pours equal measures of Dean and Raka, meme, justice and compassion into her next attempt at creating the world. And behold, this world in which we live, it stands. And of course, it's no longer God who is meeting out justice and mercy. We just operate in this world that has a kind of atomic structure, you could say, of having equal measures are both available to us. And it's our job to decide what Justice looks like. And it's our job to decide what mercy looks like. And sometimes we get it right. And sometimes we don't. And mostly, we disagree about what right and wrong looks like as mediated through human systems and human fallibility of justice and mercy. And I'm thinking about this today, as you could probably guess, because we learned this week of the sentencing of the Tree of Life shooter that he was sentenced to the death penalty for the massacre that he committed on October 27 2018. And most of the victims families and Jewish organizational statements on the heels of that sentencing, expressed relief and gratitude that the traumatizing and protracted ordeal of the trial and period of sentencing, in which they had to relive that horrific day was over. Right, in which they had to relive that day on which this shooter entered with an AR 15 and murdered 11 People in just a few minutes. And I remember how terrified our community was that day. And nationwide, obviously, Jews everywhere on Shabbat morning, we were changed forever, I actually think changed forever and slightly on edge now forever entering these spaces that should be safe spaces for us, you know, spaces of gathering. And I think this was a reminder for many of us that even if other pieces of our identity may make us targets of violence, like our gender or race or sexuality, that for those of us who had felt safe as Jewish people at the very least in America, up until that moment, no, actually, it was a reminder that anti semitism here is real and makes us vulnerable, not just to, you know, seeing unpleasant comments in the comment section online, but to violence based on nothing other than our identity. And for many Jews and Jewish organizations in America, that day changed everything. And so many of the victims families felt like the murderer got the only punishment he deserved, as evidenced by the unanimity of the jury of his sentence, and they were all not Jewish, by the way, and the irreparable damage that he inflicted and intended to inflict on all those people. This opinion, is backed up by the Torah itself, right? You can look from Genesis to Deuteronomy, and you will see versions of a line that says the person who takes a life shall have their life taken. You know. And this stems, I think, from the idea that, you know, what, what I think people would say is the reason why death penalty is legal in many states. It acts as a deterrent to potential committers of crime. But also I think there's a kind of catharsis or the idea of catharsis community catharsis, that like everyone gets to exhale, seeing that justice has been served and that this person is no longer a danger to society. Okay, now I say however, however, it turns out regarding the idea of death penalty as a deterrent, there actually isn't evidence that this is the case. There's no less violence or fewer murders in states where the death penalty is legal, or fewer mass shootings. And beyond that, as far as communal Cathars Cisco's it turns out, that many rabbis and scholars resting on 1000s of years of Jewish legal development since the Torah, profoundly disagree with The sentiment that the death penalty equals justice served. And is in every case actually the wrong answer. Rabbi Jeremy Coleman offski writes, it's the wrong answer to the right question. It's a reasonable question to ask how should societies respond when individuals abuse and violate and kill people, including in heinous and premeditated, racially motivated and barbaric ways we need? We need a way and a justice system that takes into account the horrific pneus of crimes that people commit. And as Jews, our tradition cautions us in the extreme against applying the same modes of justice as perpetrators have brought to their crimes, which is to say, applying murder as a punishment for the crime of murder is at best, hypocritical. And at worst, anachronistic and barbaric and not worth the moral risk. So what are the moral risks? Well, one is human fallibility. Right, death is final. There's no, there's no coming back from it as all of the families and the Tree of Life shooting No. And so if it's later discovered that the person found guilty and sentenced to death was actually innocent is exonerated of their crime. Once executed, they're never going to walk free than then blood is on the hands of the state. And by all of us, by extension, who pay taxes for the justice system to function, and given that we know our justice system is Riven with racial bias against people of color. But even if it wasn't, we would not want to risk the moral stain of executing innocent people. And if we don't want to risk the moral stain of executing innocent people by accident, we shouldn't execute anyone. Because evidence can be incomplete and juries and judges can be wrong, and it can never be undone. And perhaps this is why the Mishnah written more than 1000 years after the the Torah and reflects considerable moral development throughout that time, describes what judges should tell witnesses when witnesses are going to come forward to bear witness on in a capital case where their testimony could lead to the death penalty. So witnesses are told or admonished? No, the capital cases are not like non capital cases. In a non capital case, a person can pay money and find atonement. But in a capital case, the witness is going to be answerable for the wrongly condemned, and for the blood of their descendants, the ones who should have been born to them to the end of the world. Which is why in Genesis after Cain kills Abel, the text says, the bloods plural of your brother cry out to Me the bloods of your brother cry out to Me, Bloods, plural, because it refers not just to his brother, but to every descendant who would have come after him till the end of time. Okay, you think great judges, you've made your point. capital cases are very serious. But they had capital cases because some crimes warranted the death penalty, right. So the judges go on. Therefore, they say, a single person was created in the world, meaning like the proto human being Adam, to teach us that if any person causes a single life to perish, he is deemed by Scripture as if he had called us caused a whole world to perish. And anyone who saves a single soul, he is deemed by Scripture to have saved the whole world. So translation inside of this one person, this alleged criminal inside of this inside of this person whose fate lies in your hands, is the future of all humanity. Don't take their life lightly. Even if they likely took somebody else's life lightly. And the text goes on. A single person was created, actually for the sake of peace among all humankind, so that no one should say to one another, my ancestor was a bigger deal than your ancestor, my father was greater than your father. No, of course, all of our ancestors go back to the same original human being. And with this Rabbi yitz Greenberg observes that according to Jewish tradition, human beings come into the world with infinite equality.

No one being inherently better than anyone else and infinite potential. Right? But it doesn't stop there. The Mission Continues. Behold, when a king stamps out a coin with his own image, all the coins look the same. But when the King of King of Kings Mela, miles say hello to him, stamps out his coin with his image in the world. We all come out differently. Each one of us being a reflection of the image of God and for This reason we must say the world was created for my sake. So each human being created radically equal, having infinite potential and also infinite uniqueness. Reflecting God's greatness There was never and will never be another one like anyone, including the most unrepentant killer. And maybe that's why the Sanhedrin put almost no one to death. Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaria said Had we put someone to death once in 70 years, once in 70 years, the court would have had blood on its hands. And think about that, in contrast to the I think over 20 states in the United States of America that are still practicing the death penalty, I think I read this week that in the past week, you know, there was an execution in the United States of America, and in Singapore and in Iran. That's, that's the company we're keeping as a country that still practices this as a punishment. And I speak personally for a second, I think to my own future, as a mother with children who will grow up and have the potential, God forbid, to do an unspeakable, horrific crime that could result in the death of innocent people. And if that were to happen, they'd still be my child. I would still want to visit them in prison for the rest of their lives and for the rest of my life. Right. The world might deem my child unredeemable, but they'd still be my kid, capable of love capable of change. And I think of every parent of a shooter who and having the death sentence meted out to their child now becomes another family member of a murder victim, expanding the circle of grief and harm and sadness and rage and loss that comes with it. Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel famously oppose the death penalty, right even for Adolf Eichmann, who was the chief designer of the Nazi death machine, you know, responsible for killing his family along with, as we know, 6 million Jews and millions of gay people and disabled people and Roma people and political dissidents, and others. We as Al said, society should not be the Angel of Death. We should not be the servants of death. The law should celebrate, glorify and sanctify life, always life. And this was from a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family in the show. even that wasn't enough to make him think that just a little death penalty here and there for really egregious offenders was okay. And so in the same vein, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman from the Tree of Life synagogue, wrote a piece last week called I'm a rabbi who survived the Pittsburgh synagogue attacked, attack, killing the shooter won't bring my slain congregants back. And indeed, he writes, does vengeance taste good to us? To those of us who have been left behind? Does it bring consolation to a spouse, child, sibling or friend in a community, vengeance will not bring back the holy martyrs who were killed, we will still miss them and mourn them, and we are still devastated by their absence. But we must go beyond our natural human desire to exact revenge. Revenge will not bring back our slain loved ones and seeking it may even hurt ourselves and extend our sadness. So Rabbi Perlman is giving voice to an important undiscussed piece of what the death penalty is about revenge, revenge, inflicting commensurate harm with the harm we've felt imagining that it will make us feel better. And he questions that premise suggesting that what will make us feel better isn't inflicting further violence, but instead, glorifying and sanctifying life in the face of terror. And toward that end, he writes, I have increased the amount of Torah learning and teaching I do within our synagogue. I have reached out to other rabbis and recruited them to study Jewish texts with me on a weekly basis, I've tried to embrace levity following the lead of Norman Cousins, a journalist who purportedly healed himself from a serious connective tissue disease with laughter. I made my personal list of 30 films that make me laugh out loud with each subsequent viewing and I created a lecture series for our synagogue celebrating local Jewish celebrities like Barney Dreyfus who invented the World Series. I found joy in the many landmarks that keep Pittsburgh weird. From the church brewery works to bicycle heaven to tchotchke museums featuring grotesque and nostalgic collections such as St. Anthony's largest collection of relics in the world and Pee Wee Herman's bicycle, may his memory be a blessing. I don't dwell on the morbidity of what a monster destroyed in 30 minutes at my synagogue one morning, I aim to redirect myself away from Ugly feelings that the Torah actually seeks to curb and I try to honor the dead, finding comfort that they are under the wings of God's eternal presence. All right. So these weeks between t Chava Ave and Rosh Hashanah are called The Seven weeks of constellation. We don't often read Haftorah here unless a kid really wants to read it. However, if we opened up the Haftorah this week, what we would see is the prophet Isaiah trying to comfort the Jewish people who feel bereft, and like God has forgotten about them. As we move into high holidays, and toward the 50 yard side of the tree of life shooting. I am also glad and relieved and grateful that this chapter of the trial and sentencing is over. And I hope that the families have Joyce Feinberg, and Richard Gottfried, and Rose malinger. And Jerry Rabinowitz and Cecil and David Rosenthal and Bernice and Sylvan Simon, and Daniel Stein and Melvin wax and Irving younger, may their memories be blessings, I hope that their families can find consolation and a sense of closure. And I want to bless us as we move into the yamim Nora EME season, that we know that we can evolve to as the Jewish legal minded from the times of the Torah to the times of the Mishnah to the Talmud into the present moment, into a modern ethos that affirms and sell that affirms life through celebrating the living. May we be people of not just deen and Raha meme, justice and mercy, but of moral sophistication and grandeur and a people of consolation and celebration, who delight in the possibility of chuva for the worst offenders among us, and also for ourselves. Also for ourselves, may we like Rabbi Perlman, not preach and perpetuate a Torah of revenge and death, but rather preach and teach and live a Torah Hyeme a Torah of life, doing things for ourselves and one another that expand and elevate life for the sake of the redemption of the world. That's it. Amen amen.