Post by Rabbi Neil on Jul 3, 2020 19:51:24 GMT
Our double Torah portion this week, Chukkat-Balak, includes the narrative of Bilaam, the non-Jewish prophet, who tries to curse the Jewish people but instead blesses them because they are holy and cannot be cursed. At the end of the portion, there are nine verses which start another story that continues in next week’s reading.
“Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods. Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Eternal flared against Israel. The Eternal said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang them before the Eternal, facing the sun, and then the flaring anger of the Eternal will be removed from Israel. Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill the men who became attached to Baal Peor. Then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Pinchas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen saw this, arose from the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and drove [it through] both of them; the Israelite man, and the woman through her stomach, and the plague ceased from the children of Israel. Those that died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.”
The two individuals who are killed have done an appalling thing. They have gone into the Tent of Meeting, which is forbidden to them, and have defiled it. There’s no question that it’s an appalling thing that they’ve done. But does it deserve death? The death penalty is used for very specific cases in Torah from idolatry to false prophecy to necromancy and breaking Shabbat. The Tabernacle is built at the end of the Book of Exodus, and Leviticus has no prohibition of foreigners touching the Tabernacle. It is interesting that it is only the Book of Numbers, when the narrative starts up again after the legality of Leviticus, does having a non-priest touch the Tabernacle lead to the death penalty. One would have assumed that the Book of Leviticus, focusing on the priests, would have mentioned it.
Pinchas’ action of the extrajudicial killing of the two unnamed individuals brings him enormous reward by God at the very start of next week’s Torah portion – indeed, the entire Torah portion is named after him as a result of his actions. The two individuals, meanwhile, are named and shamed for their crime. This killing, while justified in Torah, regularly leaves Reform Jews feeling uncomfortable. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, though, it becomes profoundly disturbing. There was no court system in Torah – only leaders who set the rules and who kill those who do not, with clear Divine mandate. Indeed, the last words of the portion of Balak talk of a plague that kills twenty-four thousand people for the crime of intercourse with someone outside of the tribe. With that great a number, it seems like there’s a much deeper underlying issue that needs to be addressed instead of just killing everyone involved.
In Rabbinic literature, use of the death penalty was restricted to the point of being almost impossible to apply. The Mishnah (Makkot 1:10) says that a court that put a man to death once every seven years is called a bloody court, or a murderous court, depending on your translation. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah corrected that to once every seventy years. Rabbis Tarphon and Akiva said that has they been on the court, no death sentence would have ever been passed, to which Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said that such leniency would have caused the number of murderers to multiply. Where the Rabbis had a court, the Biblical leaders did not so they became judge, jury and executioner, all with divine authority. Shimon ben Gamaliel’s commentary is important because for him the issue is not whether or not it is right to put someone to death, but on how important it is that the death penalty serve as a deterrent against murderous behavior. Taking someone’s life to deter people from taking the lives of others is obviously nonsensical, but the psychology is clear. Unfortunately, that leads to extreme forms of violence which the perpetrator, usually an authority figure, believes is for the common good. The Book of Proverbs (13:24) says that whoever spares the rod hates the child. The Bible believes that violence is necessary for the common good. There is no concept of rehabilitation. Rabbinically, though, the concept of teshuvah, or atonement or repentance, becomes an essential underlying belief when considering punishment. Most of us make mistakes, sometimes serious, and for most mistakes we are allowed to seek atonement, so long as we totally change our ways. A death sentence ensures that we could not do that.
Extreme violence against suspected criminals was acceptable in Torah but it is not acceptable now. It hasn’t been acceptable by our community for two thousand years. The only time that Jewish law permits the taking of a life is in the case of the rodef – the pursuer. That is, if person A is about to kill person B, you are actually obliged to stop person A by any means necessary. If you happen to be person B, you are allowed to act in self-defence. The risk is that individuals can claim that they were acting in self-defence when they weren’t, which is why body cameras are so necessary on law enforcement officials. In halakhah (in Jewish law) a person can only be convicted of murder if there are two or more reliable witnesses to the murder and the murderer has also been warned in advance. With George Floyd’s killing, that actually happened. In fact, an entire group of people had gathered round telling the police officer to stop. Body cameras become essential halakhic witnesses against extreme acts of violence by authority figures.
Both the Bible and Rabbinic literature come from differing perspectives. The Bible is establishing law and order, Rabbinic literature is establishing responsible personal autonomy in a lawful society. There are too many authority figures today, particularly too many police officers in this country today, who would like to go back to the original notion of the establishment of law and order for the masses without considering the effect it has on individuals. Torah ethics deny the reality of individualism whereas Rabbinic ethics see them as essential. Torah law descended from on high, whereas Rabbinic law was determined by the majority on earth, even to the point in one famous story known as the Oven of Akhnai (Bava Metzia 59a-b) where God is overruled by the Rabbis.
It is okay, then, for Torah to celebrate Pinchas’ extreme violence without us having to. In fact, we can find it deplorable not because we’re Reform Jews but because Judaism has condemned the death penalty for millennia. We’ve moved on. We need to create a society in which innocent people are not killed by authority figures without any kind of court process. Petty crimes and misdemeanors are not sufficient cause for arbitrary death sentences. There is an absolute law, there is only human law. That law needs to be just. Until our law is totally just, we will keep naming the victims, Zimri ben Salu, Cozbi bat Tzur, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor, and so many more. We name them to remind ourselves that justice is only possible when it is possible for all. May God guide us in bringing about a society in which those whose duty it is to serve and protect do indeed do just that. And let us say, Amen.
“Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods. Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Eternal flared against Israel. The Eternal said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang them before the Eternal, facing the sun, and then the flaring anger of the Eternal will be removed from Israel. Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill the men who became attached to Baal Peor. Then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Pinchas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen saw this, arose from the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and drove [it through] both of them; the Israelite man, and the woman through her stomach, and the plague ceased from the children of Israel. Those that died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.”
The two individuals who are killed have done an appalling thing. They have gone into the Tent of Meeting, which is forbidden to them, and have defiled it. There’s no question that it’s an appalling thing that they’ve done. But does it deserve death? The death penalty is used for very specific cases in Torah from idolatry to false prophecy to necromancy and breaking Shabbat. The Tabernacle is built at the end of the Book of Exodus, and Leviticus has no prohibition of foreigners touching the Tabernacle. It is interesting that it is only the Book of Numbers, when the narrative starts up again after the legality of Leviticus, does having a non-priest touch the Tabernacle lead to the death penalty. One would have assumed that the Book of Leviticus, focusing on the priests, would have mentioned it.
Pinchas’ action of the extrajudicial killing of the two unnamed individuals brings him enormous reward by God at the very start of next week’s Torah portion – indeed, the entire Torah portion is named after him as a result of his actions. The two individuals, meanwhile, are named and shamed for their crime. This killing, while justified in Torah, regularly leaves Reform Jews feeling uncomfortable. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, though, it becomes profoundly disturbing. There was no court system in Torah – only leaders who set the rules and who kill those who do not, with clear Divine mandate. Indeed, the last words of the portion of Balak talk of a plague that kills twenty-four thousand people for the crime of intercourse with someone outside of the tribe. With that great a number, it seems like there’s a much deeper underlying issue that needs to be addressed instead of just killing everyone involved.
In Rabbinic literature, use of the death penalty was restricted to the point of being almost impossible to apply. The Mishnah (Makkot 1:10) says that a court that put a man to death once every seven years is called a bloody court, or a murderous court, depending on your translation. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah corrected that to once every seventy years. Rabbis Tarphon and Akiva said that has they been on the court, no death sentence would have ever been passed, to which Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said that such leniency would have caused the number of murderers to multiply. Where the Rabbis had a court, the Biblical leaders did not so they became judge, jury and executioner, all with divine authority. Shimon ben Gamaliel’s commentary is important because for him the issue is not whether or not it is right to put someone to death, but on how important it is that the death penalty serve as a deterrent against murderous behavior. Taking someone’s life to deter people from taking the lives of others is obviously nonsensical, but the psychology is clear. Unfortunately, that leads to extreme forms of violence which the perpetrator, usually an authority figure, believes is for the common good. The Book of Proverbs (13:24) says that whoever spares the rod hates the child. The Bible believes that violence is necessary for the common good. There is no concept of rehabilitation. Rabbinically, though, the concept of teshuvah, or atonement or repentance, becomes an essential underlying belief when considering punishment. Most of us make mistakes, sometimes serious, and for most mistakes we are allowed to seek atonement, so long as we totally change our ways. A death sentence ensures that we could not do that.
Extreme violence against suspected criminals was acceptable in Torah but it is not acceptable now. It hasn’t been acceptable by our community for two thousand years. The only time that Jewish law permits the taking of a life is in the case of the rodef – the pursuer. That is, if person A is about to kill person B, you are actually obliged to stop person A by any means necessary. If you happen to be person B, you are allowed to act in self-defence. The risk is that individuals can claim that they were acting in self-defence when they weren’t, which is why body cameras are so necessary on law enforcement officials. In halakhah (in Jewish law) a person can only be convicted of murder if there are two or more reliable witnesses to the murder and the murderer has also been warned in advance. With George Floyd’s killing, that actually happened. In fact, an entire group of people had gathered round telling the police officer to stop. Body cameras become essential halakhic witnesses against extreme acts of violence by authority figures.
Both the Bible and Rabbinic literature come from differing perspectives. The Bible is establishing law and order, Rabbinic literature is establishing responsible personal autonomy in a lawful society. There are too many authority figures today, particularly too many police officers in this country today, who would like to go back to the original notion of the establishment of law and order for the masses without considering the effect it has on individuals. Torah ethics deny the reality of individualism whereas Rabbinic ethics see them as essential. Torah law descended from on high, whereas Rabbinic law was determined by the majority on earth, even to the point in one famous story known as the Oven of Akhnai (Bava Metzia 59a-b) where God is overruled by the Rabbis.
It is okay, then, for Torah to celebrate Pinchas’ extreme violence without us having to. In fact, we can find it deplorable not because we’re Reform Jews but because Judaism has condemned the death penalty for millennia. We’ve moved on. We need to create a society in which innocent people are not killed by authority figures without any kind of court process. Petty crimes and misdemeanors are not sufficient cause for arbitrary death sentences. There is an absolute law, there is only human law. That law needs to be just. Until our law is totally just, we will keep naming the victims, Zimri ben Salu, Cozbi bat Tzur, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor, and so many more. We name them to remind ourselves that justice is only possible when it is possible for all. May God guide us in bringing about a society in which those whose duty it is to serve and protect do indeed do just that. And let us say, Amen.