Jul 7, 2014

Interesting Psak: apply the death penalty equally

In a psak that, I think, took the Israeli community by surprise, Rav Elyakim Levanon, Rav of the Regional Council of the Shomron and Rosh Yeshiva of Elon Moreh, announced his opinion that the death penalty should be applied to the murderer/s of the Arab boy, Mohammed Abu-Kheidar.

Rav Levanon said that Jewish law is not merciful, when talking about a cruel murder. The same is true when talking about the murder of the Jewish boys and when talking about the murder of the Arab boy.

Rav Levanon also said further that even today with no Sanhedrin, the courts in Israel have the ability to give the death penalty on someone who committed a public crime. So too with the murderers who abducted and killed the three Jewish boys - we must give them the death penalty. And with the murderers of the Arab boy as well, we must give the death penalty and fulfill the dictate of removing evil from amongst us.
sources: Walla, NRG, Kikar, and others

It is not clear to me whether Rav Levanon is referring to the secular court system of Israel having that right and ability due there being no sanhedrin today, or if only the religious courts, the batei din, have that ability. It seems to me he is referring to the secular courts, but I do not understand how they adopt that right from the Sanhedrin, if he is referring to a halachic death penalty rather than one based on secular law.

Personally I have always been in favor of the death penalty, but that is from a secular legal perspective, rather than a halachic one. I have always been told that halacha does not mandate a death penalty nowadays. I could accept that Rav Levanon holds the batei din have the right to administer the death penalty nowadays, with no Sanhedrin, but I don't understand how he can give that right to the secular courts.

What I do like is that this psak seems to be without any hypocrisy. He is not just sayng it because the public is outraged, and he is not just saying it because a Jew was murdered, but he is saying it for both situations - for the Jews that were murdered and for the Arab that was murdered.

As well, Yariv Oppenheimer, director of Peace Now, publicized his opposition to the death penalty. I almost suspected that leftists would now call for the death penalty because a Jew murdered an Arab. I was impressed when Oppenheimer argued with Rav Levanon and said that he is against the death penalty, both for the Jewish murderers and for the Arab murderers, as it is unethical - nobody, including the State, has the right to take a life. I personally disagree with that outlook, but I appreciate that he is at least applying it equally.





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6 comments:

  1. The WayJuly 07, 2014 3:59 PM

    I thought the bet din never killed anyone? That's what all the religious people say whenever I ask them how they feel about people getting the death penalty for gay sex. Seems like religious people like to play both sides of the death penalty issue.

    And why are you pro- death penalty? Every study has shown that the death penalty does not deter crime and that innocent people have been killed. That's the thing about the death penalty, it's permanent. Have you dealt with Israeli governmental services? Do you trust their professionalism enough to allow them to kill?

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    1. Dr. Harold GoldmeierJuly 07, 2014 5:38 PM

      No one must ever trust government to apply the death penalty in a fair, unbiased way. I worked for four Governors, and can tell you each of them knew innocent men and women were being put to death under their watch. One man stopped all executions in Illinois, because of so many innocent people dying at the hands of "justice." The "system" takes on a steamrolling life of its own even in a democracy causing mistakes and subject to prejudices. My stomach churns at some of the heinous crimes humans can commit; don't ever let anyone tell you life in prison without parole is coddling murderers until you have visited a prison like I have done.

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    2. DRJuly 07, 2014 6:10 PM

      So your objection is a practical one, not a moral one?

      I.e. if (in theory - I realize that your argument is that in practice it doesn't exist) there were to be a foolproof system, you would be OK with it?

      Also, re those statistics: According to an article in NPR, 12 people have been executed in Illinois since 1977. Can you point me to a source showing which if those were innocent?

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    3. Dr. Harold GoldmeierJuly 08, 2014 12:23 AM

      DR--please don't spin what you interpret as my position. Your posit of practical vs moral, full proof vs reality is like asking when did you stop beating your wife. You can easily do your own research on the Internet but here are two articles to help you: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/03/09/illinois.death.penalty/ and
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/innocent-death-penalty-study_n_5228854.html. You might also contact The Innocence Project or contact attorney Lawrence C. Marshall formerly of Northwestern U. Law School and now I believe at Stanford Law, and discuss your dilemma with him. I knew him when we met thru The Bostonne Rebbe, A"V. He and his students brought the failed system to a grinding halt.

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  2. Mordechai Y. ScherJuly 07, 2014 8:19 PM

    The death penalty would be carried out by the general courts, not the batei din, as an arm of government. The halacha mandates what I'll call 'administrative death penalty' - a death penalty imposed by the king without trial to protect public order. Similar, but not the same as, death for rebelling against the king. IF we posit that the govt in contemporary Israel has some of the authority of the king (a notion stated by Rav AY Hacohen Kook and others), then a death penalty to preserve/restore public order would possibly be within that authority. This is a correct use, by the way, of the halachic notion mipnei tikun olam. That's the gist of it, if I understand correctly.

    In the 80s, when Rav Goren struggled with the trade-terrorists-for-Israelis issue, he advocated clearly for a death penalty for terrorists. It appears in an essay in his Torat Hamedinah. In the very next essay he nicely elucidates k'darko bakodesh how the halachic concepts of punishment by the Sanhedrin and by the king are quite distinct from each other, even though both are mandated by the Torah.

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  3. The WayJuly 08, 2014 12:10 AM

    My objection is both practical and moral.

    But we totally disagree on so many moral issues that debating morality is pointless. Reality however is something where we may be able to agree. So do you agree that there is not nor has ever been a foolproof system to the death penalty?

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