Another Pontius Pilate: On Biden’s Failure to Commute ALL on Federal Death Rows

This year, the Jewish and Christian winter holidays are in cosmic synchrony. The evening of the 25th of December – Christmas Day on the Gregorian calendar – falls on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev – the first night of Hanukkah on the lunar calendar. These popular festivals in turn align with the very same week of Joe Biden’s federal death row clemency decision, in which the president attempted to act like the Divine, choosing “who shall live and who shall die” by ranking the crimes of those in line for execution. This synchronicity has led this death penalty abolitionist and co-founder of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” to reflect on Biden’s clemency verdict from the context of the execution of one of the most notable Jews in history: Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth is celebrated by billions of Christians the world over at this time of year.

While not a follower of Jesus, I admire his advocacy for human rights, just as I have tremendous respect for my sisters and brothers who lovingly proclaim his godliness. Still, like all mainstream Jews, I do not ascribe to Jesus any more Divinity than the Tzelem Elohim – Divine Image – in which Judaism teaches that G-d created all neshamot/souls. With this same imago Dei in mind, I join my fellow 3700+ members of L’chaim in standing wholeheartedly against all state murders of incarcerated souls, including the Romans’ killing of Jesus. L’chaim’s abolitionist stance applies without exception, even to those who have committed the most heinous of crimes targeting the Jewish community: namely, the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers.

Regretfully, President Biden – himself a devout Catholic – does not seem to agree. While L’chaim indeed applauds Biden for saving thirty-seven lives through commutation this week, its members painfully lament that for the moment he has elected not to extend the basic human right of life to three human beings still in line state murder on federal death row, including Bowers, nor four others condemned to die on military death row.

Were they in the President’s position, many Christians likely would ask the question “What would Jesus do?” It would certainly behoove Biden to call to mind his messiah figure now as he weighs his singular ability to finish the job and stay the executioner’s sword for Bowers and the other human beings he has selected for death. Christian abolitionists such as Sister Helen Prejean, Rev. Jeff Hood, Shane Claiborne, Rev. Jack Sullivan, Rev. Sharon Risher, Sister Barbara Battista and countless other Christian leaders – not to mention the Pope – have reminded the world time and again that Jesus most certainly would not have executed these men – nor anyone for that matter. Biden would do well to remember this fact during this Nativity season, which glorifies the birth two millennia ago of that Jewish pro-lifer who is the president’s professed savior.

Even St. Nicholas – the inspiration for Santa Claus – by all accounts appears to have been a death penalty abolitionist. Would the proverbial Saint Nick have offered holiday gifts this year to the government officials in Indiana and Oklahoma who executed their respective residents just a week before Christmas? Would the latter of these two states have been on Santa’s “nice list” for having put a man to death on his birthday in order to maximize cruelty for him and his loved ones?

More than any other historical figure associated with the life and death of Jesus, it is the damning legacy of Pontius Pilate from which Biden could learn the most this holiday season. Christian tradition infamously portrays Pilate – the Roman prefect of Judea from 26-36 CE – as having “washed his hands” of the question of Jesus’ execution. Let there be no doubt, the murder of Jesus proceeded as a direct result of that head of state’s inaction. I can respectfully disagree with many Christian friends about the necessity of Jesus’ killing as expiation for the sins of the world. This significant theological difference aside, I am quite certain that my Christian colleagues would not want posterity to associate them with a figure the likes of Pontius Pilate. And yet, Biden risks just this if he does not halt the remaining preventable federal and military killings that are set to take place in the United States. Those lives rest on a razor’s edge – and Biden’s hands effectively hold the blade. May he not wash his hands of this vital responsibility and abrogate his duty to uphold this most basic of human rights.

It has often been argued that the use of the death penalty is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the moral decay of any modern civilization. Renowned Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel unambiguously said of capital punishment: “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.” As the torch-bearers to Wiesel’s absolutist abolitionist stance, L’chaim members are keenly aware that by leaving open this veritable Pandora’s Box, Biden sends an open invitation for the man-made Malakh HaMavet/Angel of Death to enter whenever the time is ripe, setting a precedent that inherently devalues human life.

Some might assume that a Jewish group like L’chaim would make an exception for a murderous antisemite like the Tree of Life shooter. Those individuals would be manifestly wrong. To the blood-thin red-line of state murder, there are no exceptions. For Wiesel, Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Nelly Sachs and other Jewish human rights activists in the wake of the Holocaust, this included their ultimate opposition to Israel’s execution of Nazi perpetrator Adolph Eichmann. For the thousands of Wiesel’s torchbearers at L’chaim – among whom many like myself are direct scions of Holocaust survivors and victims –  it applies as well to Robert Bowers. Members of L’chaim know very well that the genocide of the Holocaust is not the same as the issue of capital punishment. Members also realize that for “Never Again” to hold any real meaning, the world must learn from the lessons of that unparalleled conflagration. This includes saying “Never Again” to state-sponsored murder of defenseless prisoners, especially via the direct Nazi legacy that is lethal injection. Trump’s federal government will almost certainly employ this aptly-named “Nazi needle” to kill the Tree of Life shooter and the two other human beings still facing execution. Such perpetuation of this Nazi legacy cannot be allowed to stand after the events of the twentieth century. Just as Buber commented when Israel decided to kill Eichmann, history will invariably label Biden’s moral failure with regard to Bowers and his remaining condemned peers as a “great mistake.”

It merits repeating that just as L’chaim never would deign to speak for murder victims or their loved ones, neither does it do so for those whose lives have been directly impacted by the Tree of Life massacre, nor should it. As a hospital chaplain, I regularly counsel mourners that those grieving should be allowed to feel the full gamut of human emotion, including rage, and even the desire for vengeance where applicable. Let no one ever judge anyone in such a position for harboring such feelings. If I myself were to lose a loved one to murder, I very well might find myself desiring – and perhaps even advocating – for the death of my loved one’s killer. Any civilized society bears the responsibility of protecting and honoring all such traumatized and suffering victims, while also upholding the fundamental human rights upon which this world strives to stand. The Talmudic sages were quick to remind the Jewish people that kol yisrael aravim zeh bazeh – all of Israel are responsible for one another. This includes supporting those in the community who are the most vulnerable – such as family members of murder victims – while maintaining foundational ethical norms, such as the right to life. Society must never lose sight of this vital balance.

Consequently, L’chaim members – like nearly all abolitionists – first and foremost remember and honor murder victims and their loved ones. At the start of every multi-faith execution vigil by Death Penalty Action, L’chaim leads memorial prayers from the Jewish tradition for the victims of crimes that led the condemned to the death chamber. Indeed, L’chaim has remembered the eleven Tree of Life victims frequently over the years in prayer and song. This held true when L’chaim was invited to speak at Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations attacked during the Tree of Life shooting. It also was the case during the sentencing phase of Robert Bowers’ capital trial, when L’chaim members stood across the steps from the US Supreme Court as part of the Annual Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty and chanted the traditional Jewish memorial prayer of Eil Malei Rachamim for the eleven Tree of Life martyrs, of blessed memory. L’chaim also has performed renditions of the song “Tree of Life” by Idina Menzel and Kate Diaz, which was written to memorialize victims for the 2022 HBO documentary “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” And of course, L’chaim shares posts honoring the lives of the eleven martyrs of the Tree of Life, makes regular contributions in their loving memories, and advocates regularly and vociferously against antisemitism in all its heinous forms.

State killing of those who are already safely behind bars  – whether of Robert Bowers or anyone else – is not a deterrence, but rather only perpetuates the cycle of violence and murder. May the victims at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life – Eitz Chaim in Hebrew – be honored not by the taking of another life, but instead by reaffirming the sanctity of life. Rather than paving the way for more killing, may President Biden follow the example of the inspiring Jewish residents of Pittsburgh. In a stunning example of that community’s unflagging steel resolve in the wake of the Tree of Life shooter’s capital trial, it hosted a life-affirming parade to celebrate the dedication of a new Torah – known also as an Eitz Chaim/Tree of Life – in loving memory of Joyce Fienberg, one of the eleven Tree of Life martyrs, and her late husband Dr. Steven Fienberg. That sacred community once again brought new life to the exhortation that has motivated Jewish people for millennia: “Am Yisrael Chai”- “The People of Israel Live!” To that profound demonstration of the very best of Jewish values and resilience, L’chaim members fervently echo the reverberating response of Jewish abolitionists everywhere in asking President Biden to apply the age-old Jewish charge of “L’chaim – to Life!” without exception, from Jesus of Nazareth to Robert Bowers and each of the other six human beings whose lives he still has the power to save this holiday season.

Finish the job, Mr. President…

Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM

Board Certified Chaplain –  Ohalah: Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal

Co-Founder: L’chaim: Jews Against the Death Penalty

Advisory Committee Member, Death Penalty Action

Note: An origin version of this op-ed was first published as “Will Biden Become Another Pontius Pilate this Holiday Season?”in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on December 25, 2024.