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[regard it as inevitable. If I have contributed anything to the discussion of capital punishment and Jewish tradition within the Reform Movement, it has been to challenge the conventional wisdom and demonstrate that in Jewish tradition as a whole, not just the Torah , support for the death penalty is an authentic, Jewishly tenable position . Indeed, it is arguably the normative one.
The official position of the Reform Movement opposing capital punishment has been stated numerous times, including a 1959 UAHC General Assembly resolution and CCAR resolutions in 1958, 1960 and 1979. The latter states its opposition to all forms of capital punishment... under all circumstances” and expresses the “[un]shaken... conviction” that“[bJoth in concept and practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant, despite Biblical sanctions for it.”2 As I hope to demonstrate, notwithstanding my own position, this statement is plainly wrong.
The Torah prescribes capital punishment for a wide variety of offenses, from murder and kidnapping to adultery, Shabbat violation, and abuse of parents. Its enactments in this regard are so extensive and well known as not to require citation. Modern rabbinic exhortations against capital punishment, while acknowledging the Torah 's position, generally rely upon a famous mishnah in Tractate Makkot:“A Sanhedrin that puts one man to death in a week[of years] is called‘destructive.’ R. Eleazer b. Azariah says: Or one in even seventy years. R. Tarphon and R. Akiba say: Had we been in the Sanhedrin none would ever have been put to death.”
Note well, however, that while Rabbis Tarphon and Akiba may be said to oppose capital punishment, Rabbi Eleazar does not rule it out entirely. Moreover, the anonymous mishnah, which presents the authoritative position, holds that the death Penalty should be imposed infrequently, not never. Since this is a view that even thoughtful supporters of capital punishment May share, reliance on this text as the mainstay of the argument for abolition is misplaced.
Amore serious flaw is the common failure to cite the remainder of the mishnah, in which we learn,“Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says,“They[who would not impose the death penalty] would multiply shedders of blood in Israel. ”” Our colleague, Julius Kravetz z'l, described the“edited” citation of Makkot 1:10 35 a“scandalous example of... deliberately induced tunnel Vision,” and observed,“[TThose who have been moved by what
€y regarded as nobler and more humane sentiments... have