Getting Rid of the Evil Among Us

Parshat Ki Tetze 

by Rabbi Avi Billet 

 From the one time in Re’eh to the three times in Shoftim to the five times in Ki Tetze, the Torah tells us nine times to eradicate evil – “Uvi’arta hara” – from either amongst you, or amongst all of Israel.

 It would seem that in most of these cases, as well as others in our parsha, the Torah is advocating for a death penalty kind of punishment for those who are either guilty of a crime, or are in violation of a mitzvah.

 Most people I know would have much less of a problem with capital punishment for truly evil people, such as murderers and terrorists. This is likely true in times of peace, but is even more true during times of war when the swift justice of war eradicates evil people.

 But for sinners?

 We are all sinners! Why would we advocate for these death penalty punishments, or any kind of corporal punishment, when the laws which trigger these punishments are so easily violated? I have seen Sharia law advocates explain that the law is meant to be a deterrent, and that the message of “they will hear and they will fear” will serve as the inspiration to create a moral society as we weed out the bad apples among us. Even if this works in theory, the lack of compassion, and the lack of a soul in the hands of the executor of "justice" is so anti the civil society we have accepted as tolerant and (acceptably) liberal.

 The problem with applying the literal presentation of the Torah's laws in our parsha as "the way the Jewish society was" is that the court system always required witnesses and warnings. And if the warning was not issued in the proper fashion (let alone if it was not issued at all), or if there were no witnesses, or if the witnesses did not fit the necessary criteria or were somehow disqualified (such as if they were related to one another or to one of the claimants), the court case is more of a spectacle than an effective system of punishment. The corporal punishments the Torah describes are immediately thrown off the table.

 Understanding to which crimes and sins specific punishments were appended requires a careful reading of Devarim chapters 17-24. But all of the cases in question come with Talmudic caveats. The rebellious son never existed. The betrothed daughter at that specific age was never unfaithful. Warnings. Witnesses. Etc.

 How then is a just society created if the court system has its hands bound and can’t carry out the law?

Two elements come into play in a society living under God. Firstly, monetary cases are decided by the courts. Documents always had to have witnesses. Legal jargon may not have been what it is today, but the paperwork was there. And courts could decide between he said-he said cases, even in the absence of witnesses.

 The other element is God’s role. The God fearing individual reads the Torah, understands the gravity of the worst sins described in the Torah, and makes a conscious choice not to violate, and to otherwise live a holy existence, to the best of one’s ability.

 Otherwise, between the punishment known as “kares” (which has many possible manifestations) and “misah bidei shamayim” (death at the hands of heaven), the courts would put certain punishments in the hands of Heaven. Imagine the otherwise guilty party (minus the necessary proof to actually convict) walking out of court with the judges saying, “Good luck because you’re going to need it. God is going to get you.”

 What will it take? A car accident? A slip and fall? A heart attack? Or, in those days, perhaps getting gored by an animal running amok? Precisely.

 I am not suggesting that the victims of tragedies like these in our day are being punished for indiscretions. Even if they were guilty of certain sins (after all, aren’t we all?), in most cases it was private, and it was certainly never adjudicated in court. More likely they were not even remotely guilty of the sins of the magnitude described in our parsha. How then do we explain why tragedy struck?

 We can’t. And those who think they know the answers are fools and should be shunned. Sometimes we don’t know and can’t understand the ways of God. Saying things like “it was his time” and “God wanted it this way” are the wrong things to say to people who are filled with questions.

Two final points. I read an opinion piece in Haaretz this week that suggested that as we have evolved from the punishments described in the Torah and no longer practice “an eye for an eye” and capital punishment, we should also consider getting rid of Bris Milah, as the author suggested, “Ritual circumcision is the only act of physical harm that remains.”

 The author’s misunderstanding of the corporal and capital punishments aside (most of which were either monetary compensation to victims or impossible-to-enforce capital punishment), he completely misunderstands what Bris Milah is all about. The Covenant is not viewed as a punishment. It is a gift from God. The act of circumcision is an act of faith that has been adequately addressed by Rabbi Akiva almost two thousand years ago. (Midrash Tanchuma Tazria 7) 

 Finally, we are to understand that as much as society “evolves” the Torah’s truths remain. The punishments described for the heinous crimes and sins are meant to illustrate just how badly these specific violations tear apart the fabric of our Torah-guided society.

 Our goal is to weed out sinners. And we do that through educating sinners not to sin. May we all become experts in Torah knowledge so we can not only continue to enhance our wonderful society, but be a light to the world for how to treat our fellow man.

Gather Wood and Die?

Regarding the Identity of Tzlafchad see here (or listen here!). And regarding the Death Penalty For Shabbos Violations see here

Parshat Shlach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 To the best of my counting (and happy to hear a correction!), the Torah mentions the concept of Shabbos once in Bereishis, six times in Shmos, four times in Vayikra, twice in Bamidbar (including our parsha) and only once in Devarim.

 Add to this at least 16 times it is referenced in the remaining 19 books of the Bible, and we have a significant day in the Jewish calendar.

 The story of the woodgatherer (m'koshesh eitzim) in 15:32-36, however, is one of the more disturbing references to the holy day in the Torah. And while it is Shmot 31:14 that is the pretext for the result meted out to the woodgatherer, it is nonetheless troubling to see someone put to death for "violating the Sabbath."

 The Talmud (Bava Batra 119a-b) suggests - somewhat approvingly - the violator did so on purpose to teach a lesson to the people.

 I have always found this Talmudic passage to be troubling. Since when is a person given approval for violating a capital offense in order to teach a lesson? The active principle in the Torah is that when a person is guilty of violating a capital crime, the punishment will be so public that "All of Israel will hear and fear [the punishment] and they will not continue to do such a heinous crime." (see Devarim 13:12, 21:21) There is no justification granted to those who purposely sin for the benefit of the masses! Their sins are not whitewashed in the Torah, and yet the Talmud does give the woodgathering sinner an air of justification.

 It happens that even this principle (capital punishment as a deterrent) is hard to fathom in the two cases in Devarim – the former being an individual who tries to get others to leave the fold and worship idolatry, while the latter is the case of the wayward son who has become a glutton and violates the fifth of the Aseres Hadibros (Ten Statements) through disrespecting his parents. For a different discussion. 

How do we reconcile a person doing a simple act of carrying wood on Shabbos and receiving the death penalty as a result?

 We can't. And this is why the Meshekh Chokhmah notes that "from the time the woodgatherer was stoned – though he had intended his act for the sake of heaven, to publicize the punishment so people would not take the prohibitions of Shabbos lightly – it had such an emotional impact on the people (note he uses the word הרגש - which can either mean as I've translated it, or that they were terrified about violating the shabbos.) that while they were in the mountains of Moav and going through the motions of the book of Devarim (and the review of many laws that it includes), Shabbos is not mentioned. The manna's regular cycle (double portion on Friday) was the eternal reminder of the existence of Shabbos. This is why it is otherwise only mentioned in the retelling of the Ten Statements, which is a reminder to people to keep the Shabbos [but says nothing about those who violate it]."

There is no other evidence (that I'm aware of) that the death penalty was invoked for a violation of Shabbos. [Note from January 2014: See the Midrash in the comments that suggests one of the reasons Achan was killed (in Yehoshua 6-7) was because of Chillul Shabbat]

According to the reading of the Meshekh Chokhmah that the people were emotionally impacted, one might be able to argue that the people were not interested in hearing about the death penalty for Shabbos violations. According to the other way of reading it, it was unnecessary to raise the discussion because the matter was closed. Everyone got the point and the message about not violating the Shabbos.

Maybe the book of Devarim avoids the topic because the repercussions for its violation are so emotionally wrenching.

 But what is the crime?

 The mitzvah to keep Shabbos is so essential to who we are as a people on account of its prominence in testifying to God's creating the world.*

 It is also how we attest to God's role in taking us out of Egypt, and creating the nation of Israel that was finalized with the giving of the Torah - which includes the mitzvah of Shabbos so prominently displayed on the first of the Two Tablets.

 The wood gatherer displayed his utter disregard for all of this. Perhaps in the aftermath of the spies incident he felt that God had forsaken the Jewish people. Maybe he felt that there was no hope for the future - he, along with his generation were fated to die in the desert. Maybe he lost heart. Maybe he gave up. Maybe he felt there was nothing to live for anyway.

 that is a fatalist attitude. We have been waiting for the Messiah to come for a long time. We wait for peace in Israel, even though despite the good intentions of politicians, it will continue to elude the region with the "peace partners" that are anything but sincere.

 Do we give up? No. We forge on. With our faith intact. We do not abandon God and suggest He no longer exists because we are angry with Him. We maintain an ever present hope for the future. 

Abandoning God and the Torah is for people who, like the wood gatherer, don't see the point in it all. A person can believe in God and not observe the Sabbath. But ignoring the rules of resting on the Sabbath is an indicator that God's role in creating the world and resting on the seventh day is irrelevant to the Holy Day.

 While there is thankfully no death penalty for those who violate Shabbos, we pray that Jews across the world will revisit Shabbos, tap into its beauty, and help bring the day the Messiah can come. (Talmud Shabbos 118b)

*

מדרש אגדה (בובר) במדבר פרשת שלח פרק טו סימן לד 

ולמה נסמכה פרשת חילול שבת אצל ע"ז, ללמדך כשם שהמודה בע"ז ככופר בכל התורה, כך כל המחלל שבת ככופר בכל התורה כולה וכן שקולה שבת ככל המצות, שנאמר ועל הר סיני ירדת (ודברת) [ודבר] עמהם [משמים וגו' ואת שבת קדשך הודעת להם] (נחמיה ט' י"ד) 

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ps. Check out Rabbi Shimon's response to Rabbi Eliezer!!

ספרי זוטא פרק טו פסוק לב

(לב). ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר, אמר ר' אליעזר בן יעקב נאמר כאן ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר ונאמר להלן אבינו מת במדבר (שם /במדבר/ כז ג) מה מדבר שנא' להלן צלפחד אף מדבר האמור כאן צלפחד. - אמר לו ר' שמעון אי אפשר לומר מקושש היה צלפחד מפני שהיה מקושש בשנה ראשונה בעשרים ואחד לחדש השני וכי אפשר שיהיו בנות צלפחד בנות מלכים נאות וכשרות הקטנה שבהן היתה יושבת ארבעים שנה עד שלא נשאת וכי באיזו שעה מת צלפחד בשעה שנ' וישמע הכנעני מלך ערד (שם /במדבר/ לג מ) באותה שעה מת צלפחד: וימצאו איש, איש אחד היה: 

מדרש אגדה (בובר) במדבר פרשת שלח פרק טו סימן לד

ולמה נסמכה פרשת חילול שבת אצל ע"ז, ללמדך כשם שהמודה בע"ז ככופר בכל התורה, כך כל המחלל שבת ככופר בכל התורה כולה וכן שקולה שבת ככל המצות, שנאמר ועל הר סיני ירדת (ודברת) [ודבר] עמהם [משמים וגו' ואת שבת קדשך הודעת להם] (נחמיה ט' י"ד). 

Capital Punishment is Mercy

I first wrote about capital punishment after the Lockerbie bomber was released from prison.
I stand by what I wrote then in this latest installment on the subject.

Parshat Re'eh

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The Torah shuns violence, values life, and has embedded in most Jewish hearts and minds through the generations that violence is not our way. The establishment of the State of Israel and the needs for vigilance and survival have changed this attitude somewhat, but even so, the Jewish people are still held to a higher standard – by others and by ourselves – and will seek diplomacy and other options before resorting to violence as a last option.

           

This makes the section of Devarim 13:7-12 quite troubling. In simple terms, the Torah describes a case in which an individual from your community, who may be quite close to you, chooses to act as a missionary for another god or religion, and tries to get you to worship that other god.

            

The Torah says, "Do not agree with him, and do not listen to him. Do not let your eyes pity him, do not show him any mercy, and do not try to cover up for him, since you must be the one to put him to death. Your hand must be the first against him to kill him, followed by the hands of the other people. Pelt him to death with stones, since he has tried to make you abandon God your Lord, who brought you out of Egypt and the House of Bondage. When all Israel hears about it, they will be afraid, and they will never again do such an evil thing among you."

            

Before we continue, three disclaimers are in order.

1. Since the destruction of the Temple 2000 years ago, the Jewish people do not have a system that would allow for such a sequence of "justice" to play out.

2. The Talmud (Makkot 7) discusses the propriety of a court executing capital punishment. Some felt capital punishment should be a very rare occurrence, while others felt that all the criteria necessary to obtain such a verdict would be so difficult to achieve that a court would never be able to execute someone.

3. Perhaps our contemporary society views such an approach as barbaric. After all, you're going to take someone's life because he or she has expressed an opinion about which god you should worship?

            

In truth, this is really a question of which sins or misdeeds can so remove a person from society that said society agrees by consensus that the death penalty is in order.

            

I think the most blatant hint in our case comes from the inclusion of the phrase "who brought you out of Egypt and the House of Bondage" in13:11. The verse could have easily ended with the words "tried to make you abandon God your Lord!" Mentioning Egypt is the most direct reminder that the god this person is suggesting you abandon is God who loves you, Who cares for you, Who saved you from Egypt; God Who made miracles for you, gave you the Torah and asked for allegiance in return.

            

This is worse than a person asking you to abandon your parents – this is The God without Whom your parents would not exist, and you would not exist.

            

The Torah would seem to suggest that while evil has many faces, the "friend" trying to pull you away from God embodies pure evil. In the book of Devarim, the Torah emphasizes at least ten times the need to eradicate evil from amongst the Israelite nation. It speaks of a certain level of conformity – but in all cases the vilified act is one which, at its core, either stands to undermine a civil and just society, which is partially defined by the laws that contribute heavily to the moral fabric and order that is the essence of the Torah's instruction, or is a direct affront to God.

            

How do we justify putting this person to death? The Torah Temimah (13:9) records a number of Talmudic and Midrashic passages that address the seeming contradiction between "Loving your neighbor," for example, and, in this case, putting him to death. If the person's deeds take him out of the category of being your neighbor, there is no contradiction – your non-neighborly-neighbor seeks your destruction. And therefore has opened himself to the same.

             

But it is Rabbenu Bachaye who instructs us as to how we should properly view the death penalty: "The Torah is all mercy and it comes from the Merciful One. When it tells us to take the life of one who is guilty, it never intends for us to do so in a vengeful manner. That would be the excuse were we trying to train ourselves to be cruel. But the 'revenge' is meant to be merciful: to have mercy on everyone else. This is why it says 'Don't let your eyes pity him' and 'All of Israel will hear and see and will not continue to do this any more' and 'you must eradicate evil from your midst.'"

There are organizations in Israel which exist specifically to counter missionary efforts in Israel – they can take up the debate whether missionaries who target Jews are the embodiment of evil. Perhaps Jews (or former Jews) who prey on weak Jews and try to entice them away from Judaism are the worst kind of missionaries.

            

But when it comes to the death penalty in general (and no, I am not advocating for missionaries to be treated that way), just as the Torah is not looking to train its adherents to become cruel, it doesn’t put much stock in the notion that "the civil society does not participate in the cruel act of capital punishment" or in those who question a society's right to rid itself of evil people. If evil is allowed to live, the Torah argues, what deters other people from committing similar evil acts?

            

How many evil people, particularly terrorists and murderers, have "done their time," been released, and found new victims?

            

Ridding the world of evildoers is not cruelty to the evildoer. It is mercy on all the rest of us, particularly potential victims, as it makes the world a safer place.

Justice Justice You Shall Pursue (Deut. 16:20)

A related essay on this subject can be found here

Measure for Measure

There is justice, and there is "justice." The Torah (usually) advocates that justice take the form of "middah k'neged middah" (מדה כנגד מדה) a.k.a. "measure for measure." While Rabbinic law has explained that "an eye for an eye" (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20) refers to monetary payments, such punishment is a payment for the monetary value of the lost organ or limb. How the value is determined is a subject of a different discussion.

The Torah unequivocally has a capital punishment system embedded in its laws. When, how and how often it was evoked is also a subject of a different discussion. The Talmud describes that in the event a murderer subverts the system through a technicality such that the court could not execute him, they had other methods to ensure his inevitable demise.

There was no such thing as 'death row' or a long-term prison sentence for murderers. Accidental murderers went (of their own accord) to cities of refuge to avoid retribution from relatives of the deceased. In some cases their exile may last for the rest of their lives. [See the footnote below for an example of an accidental murder and a situation that would warrant this exile.]

Punishment was meted out immediately, whether it be a fine, restitution, lashes, or the death penalty. And none of the death penalty punishments were costly - court orders were not a burden on society.

The Modern World

While I do believe in the death penalty for murderers, I understand that not everyone agrees to this. But I also believe that a person who takes a life in any way other than defense (of self or of another), in battle, or through a pure accident - a pure accident might include a car accident on a slippery road, or a doctor who does everything right but loses a patient - has lost the privilege to live in society. A drunk driver, for example, might not be a "deliberate murderer," but getting behind the wheel after drinking is not a pure accident. The driver made a choice that was not beyond his/her control.

Certainly a deliberate murderer should get no mercy. Even if s/he finds religion when s/he is in prison, and even if s/he can become a contributing member of society. By Torah law, s/he should have been dead shortly after s/he was convicted, so what s/he accomplishes later in life is enough of a "freebie" for a person, to my mind, that anything beyond bread and water to continue to live out his/her life, is a gift the person does not deserve.

Pan Am 103

The Lockerbie bomber was released from prison.

[Note from 8/20/2012 - I just revisited this page and noticed that all but one of the links I had left here are now inactive. They were articles about the Lockerbie bomber being released, as one article put it "Scottish authorities released him on compassionate grounds because he is dying of cancer."]

Where was his compassion for his victims? Why is this man still alive? Eichmann wasn't given compassionate jail time. He was killed after his conviction.

Is it possible that His Murderousness was a tool for an economic deal? Nothing disgusts me more.

I hope this man rots. 270 people died, including one person I knew growing up - Joseph K. Miller - on account of this monster's actions. He is undeserving of any compassion and he ought to die in prison. He should have been executed, but that is not "compassionate enough."

I heard one talk-radio host put it this way: If Bernie Madoff (who ruined many lives and may have caused a few suicides and crimes to be committed) were to be dying of cancer, would anyone tolerate his being released from prison in order to die with his family? Obviously that wound is very fresh, but the wound of Lockerbie and Pan Am 103 is still fresh for the relatives of the victims, those who knew them, and all of us who saw a first glimpse of how our world was changing when terrorists started using or destroying planes to make their "freedom fight" known to the world.

Ecclesiastes was right when he said (10:19) - "Money is the answer for everything." In other words, the pursuit of money justifies every dishonest or dishonorable behavior perpetrated by man.

England, you should be ashamed.
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What is an "Accidental Murder"? - two kinds

An "accidental murder" (shogeg or שוגג) is when someone does an action that is potentially dangerous to someone else, without bothering to check if someone is in harm's way. It may include a gross negligence on the part of the "perpetrator."

Examples might include:

• someone purposely running a red light and hitting a pedestrian who had the right of way
• shooting a person while hunting
• throwing rocks over a precipice, unaware someone is down below
• dropping anything from a high place where there is no designation to do so, such as at a construction site

According to the Torah (Numbers 35, see also Joshua 20 and 21), people who do this must go to exile, where they will establish residence until the High Priest passes away.
Other examples of accidental murder in which there is no culpability (o'ness or אונס) are when the person did nothing wrong or negligent and circumstances were completely beyond control. Other than the examples mentioned above, other instances of this would include:

• Driving normally on a highway, and someone jumps in front of your car from an overpass (assuming they survive the jump)
• When the victim goes into a clearly marked restricted (DANGEROUS) area, such as at a shooting range, or a high voltage facility, or underneath a roller coaster (I mention this because there was a case last last year when someone was killed doing this), and the shooter, worker or operator does what they are supposed to and don't know of their victim's presence until it is too late

As soon as it becomes clear that there was no way for the accident to be avoided, the responsible party is deemed exempt from any punishment or retribution.