Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Temple Emanuel – Denver, CO
February 1, 2019
In this weeks’
Torah portion, Mishpatim, we are
presented with laws about everything from:
·
The treatment
of slaves,
· The return
of lost property,
·
Civil penalties
for disputes,
·
Festival observance
·
Conquering
the Land of Canaan
·
Dietary Laws
·
Sacrifices
We also learn,
for the first time, that the Death Penalty can be levied in cases of:
·
Pre-meditated
murder,
·
Matricide or
Patricide, Kidnapping,
·
Insulting a
parent,
·
Allowing an
ox to gore another person
·
Bestiality
Tonight, I
want to talk about how we, as a nation, view punishment – in particular,
Capital punishment – the Death Penalty
Since our
State Legislature will soon be taking up a bill to abolish the Death Penalty,
it is an appropriate time to look at the issues surrounding Capital Punishment. Let’s take a moment and talk about the Penal
system in general: Why and how do we punish? What are the goals of having a prison system?
- · Is it to protect society?
- · Is it to provide justice to the victims?
- · Is it to deter crime?
Each
situation is different. As such, our
justice system provides us with a wide variety of tools and options: from monetary fines to community service, to
prison time, to the ultimate punishment – the death penalty.
Our
constitution guarantees against “Cruel and unusual punishment” so the
sentencing given to the guilty must not be excessive or out of the ordinary.
I am opposed
to the death penalty. I find it immoral,
inhumane and dangerous.
5 years ago,
Reverend Jim Ryan and I wrote an op-ed
[i]in
response to then Governor Hickenlooper’s decision to stay the execution of the
notorious murderer, Nathan Dunlap. We said, in part:
For us, as men of God and leaders of our
congregations of Colorado faithful, it is deeply troubling that our state may
move forward with the execution of Nathan Dunlap. Our calling to serve God
involves a responsibility to seek justice, and we must be especially mindful of
our role in supporting the poor and the weak, while advocating for fairness for
all. Despite his terrible crime and the suffering he caused, we pray that Mr.
Dunlap will receive executive clemency and will serve his life in prison
without the possibility of parole.
I am not
opposed to just punishment, or tough standards for violent and murderous
criminals. I am opposed to the death
penalty – not because of what it does to the guilty – but what it does to all
of us – you and me – here
today and throughout our nation.
Ours is a
society in which violence is becoming so commonplace that the threshold for
events which shock, which give us pause, which cause us to cry out in horror at
the inhumanity of humanity is constantly on the rise.
Murder is
commonplace - both on our streets, in our homes, and in our prisons.
The death
penalty, some might argue, is a deterrent -
a way to show that we are in control of the most dangerous elements in
our society. It is not.
The death
penalty, some might argue, is the ultimate form of justice and punishment at
our disposal. It is not.
You see, I
do not understand how one act of violence can possibly be a moral punishment
for another act of violence.
We live in a
violent society. Everywhere we look in the media – in the newspapers, on televi sion, on
the internet we are confronted with evidence of human brutality. This violence is reinforced through the ways that
we entertain ourselves – the films, television shows, books and video games
that grow more violent every day.
Compounding
this phenomenon is the fact there is very little left today that is shocking.
Rabbi Harold
Kushner writes the following:
"Once, there was magic and a sense of mystery in our
lives. Once (in our childhood and in the
childhood of the human race) there were places that were unlike all other
places, and moments in time that were different from ordinary time. They added color, texture, and excitement to our
lives. But today no place is off limits
to human ingenuity. WE have become so
good at unraveling mysteries that few things still mystify us, and in the
process we may have become the people to whom the late philosopher Joseph
Campbell addressed this warning: 'When
you get to be older and the concerns of the day have been attended to, and you
turn to the inner life - well, if you don't know where it is or what it is,
you'll be sorry.'
We have largely lost the capacity for
reverence, the sense of awe that comes from realizing how much greater God is
than we are. We have lost it,
paradoxically, because the twentieth century teaches us both how great we are
and how small we are."[1]
We have
become immune not only to the beauty and wonder that surrounds us, but also to
the ugliness and evil that, unfortunately, pervade our everyday lives. It is not our “…capacity for
reverence…” that is being lost, but our
ability to be shocked as well.
The fact
that the United States of America is the only Democratic country in which
Capital Punishment is permitted……
The fact
that other nations that share our penchant for ultimate vengance include Bangladesh, Botswana,
China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, , Jordon, Kuwait,
Libya, North Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, , Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Thailand,
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam
and Yemen…..
The fact
that over half of those on death row are people of color, though they represent
only 20% of the country’s population……
The fact
that nearly half of those executed in the last two decades have been people of
color, with blacks alone accounting for 38%. All told, 82% have been put to
death for the murder of a white person. Only 3% were white people who had been
convicted of killing people of African, Asian or Hispanic descent…...
These facts
should give us pause…….And yet – they don’t.
We don’t even think about them.
We turn aside from the injustice of our current system in order to ignore
our current reality in favor of a belief that Capital punishment somehow brings
us justice, closure, deterrence….
My friends, the truth is that the death
penalty is legally sanctioned murder - nothing more and nothing less.
There are
those who may argue that the Bible does not prohibit Capital Punishment. This is true - to a point. And yet, as Judaism has evolved over the
centuries, we have also developed a reticence to impose the death penalty. The Rabbis of old made it practically impossible to impose the
death penalty. In the 70 year history of
the State of Israel only one person has ever been executed by a court of law -
Adolph Eichman - the architect of Hitler’s Final Solution and even that
execution was hotly debated within the courts and around the kitchen tables of
every citizen in the Jewish State.
For me, the
central issue is truly none of the above.
For me the issue of Capital punishment revolves not around how we see
the most evil elements of society - but how we perceive ourselves. Are we going
to allow our fear of crime, our desire for vengeance, our BOTTOM LINE mentality to govern how we conduct ourselves? Capital punishment is a quick fix - it may be
popular with the voters – it may make some of us feel good - or politicians
look good as they get tough on crime -
but ultimately, I believe that it lessens our own humanity when we take the
life of another person.
Those who have committed atrocities need to be punished. They cannot be a part of a civilized
society. But, I firmly believe, one of
the prices of being “civilized” is taking on a responsibility to act in a way
that is consistent with our own internal holiness.
All
religious traditions teach that one day humanity will be judged. I believe that our judgment will not merely revolve around how we treated
the best elements of our society – but how we treated the worst elements of our
society. There is evil in the
world. There are predators and murderers
among us who deserve to be separated and cut off from society. For some there can be no rehabilitation. And yet, the price we pay for living in a
civilized, moral society, is living with the fact that we cannot totally
eliminate this evil. But we can assert
that we – as a society will not allow ourselves to stoop to their level. We will not allow ourselves to become
murderers as well.
In the book
of Genesis we learn that we are all created in the Image of God. There is a spark of holiness inside every
human being. All life is holy - even that of the most damaged and evil members
of our society. When we take a life - whether that life has committed murder or
not - we are diminishing the image of God.
Yes, the murderer has done the same - but the fact that we claim to be a
moral society calls us to rise above our desire for vengeance and understand
that one act of murder does not make up for another.
Killing
human beings can never be justified as a just punishment for who are we to act
in God’s stead?
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