“Save a Life, Save a World” – Why Death Penalty Abolition Matters

Why care about the death penalty for unrepentant murderers and unforgiving terrorists when there are so many existential threats to humanity in the world today? The scale and scope of the horror of recent global events seem to dwarf much of what has transpired since the Second World War. The distressing litany of post-war global affairs that comprise Billy Joel’s seminal song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” pales in comparison to what has led to the present moment. Convicted felon Donald Trump now sits at the helm of the most powerful nation in the world, quite possibly with no intentions of leaving. He embarks on a ruthless, murderous campaign of authoritarian rule marked by tyrannical practices at home and unchecked territorial conquest abroad. His Machiavellian approach to world affairs already has irreparably set back international laws and standards that have taken decades to build. Meanwhile, genocides abound across the Earth, which also faces an unfolding climate catastrophe as a result of humanity’s mistreatment of the planet. What does it matter in the greater scheme, then, if individual states violate the human right to life by executing human beings guilty of committing some of the worst crimes imaginable?

The thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” – of which I am the co-founder – understand very well why abolishing the death penalty matters. Many of us see the world through the lens of the countless state-sponsored killings that continue to proliferate. Members view this as an existential threat to humanity on an individual level. We certainly do recognize that prodigious disasters are unfolding in our world, including the impending calamity of irreversible climate change, and the ever-worsening plagues of hatred, xenophobia, violence, and killing. That reality, however, does not make the execution of any one individual by any government any less urgent.

We turn to our Jewish tradition as we juxtapose the value of one human life with the survival of our species and our planet. The Talmud famously teaches that “Whoever destroys a life, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Various other spiritual traditions make a similar point. That sentiment invites a related rhetorical corollary: Is humanity worth saving at all if we are only going to continue unnecessarily killing each other?

L’chaim has outlined time and again the manifold reasons why the abject abomination that the death penalty represents merits expeditious abolition, without exception. Capital punishment violates the human right of life, it always constitutes torture, risks executing the innocent, is racist in its application, and – from Adolph Hitler to Trump to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir – is used as a political tool, particularly for election campaigns. L’chaim has also illustrated how Jewish tradition makes the death penalty virtually impossible, and how many execution methods are direct Nazi legacies, including firing squad, gassing, and lethal injection. Famed death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel best articulated L’chaim’s stance when he said of capital punishment that – in the shadow of the Holocaust – “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.” Lawmakers should heed Wiesel’s message and realize that executions are not today – and never will be – the correct answer.

The current debate in the Knesset over Israel’s proposed death penalty for terrorists bill underscores the need for renewed attention and redoubled efforts in death penalty abolition. The stakes for the future of Jewish civilization could not be higher as Israeli society considers inviting this manufactured Angel of Death back to its shores. First and foremost, rather than deterring acts of terrorism, the death penalty would instead incite and invite more shaheeds – martyrs – to attack Israel. Furthermore, if the Knesset were to enact this medieval bill and the unconscionable stain of executions were to succeed in darkening what remains of the moral fabric of Israeli society, antisemitic extremists would assuredly blame all Jews for their state’s sponsored murder program, neatly fitting it into their warped view of Israel  – and, by extension, Judaism  – as a so-called  “Death Cult.” Just as this bill jeopardizes the safety and security of Jews across the globe in this way, it also threatens to permanently mar what remains of Israel’s moral standing among the more than 70% of world nations that have abolished the death penalty in law and practice. In the highly volatile political climate that now imperils the rule of law in Israel, this issue also further normalizes the invocation of state violence. It widens the gap between modern-day Israel and the central Jewish value of the inviolability of life.

Last but not least, the latest iteration of Israel’s proposed death penalty bill for convicted terrorists provides undeniable evidence of how quickly any procedural safeguards and notions of humanitarian practices evaporate once a civilization opens itself to the veritable danse macabre of state-sponsored killing. Attorney Robert Dunham, Director of the Death Penalty Policy Project and former Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, encapsulated it most tellingly when he wrote that the current bill “is a walking human rights violation—including denial of meaningful access to counsel, non-unanimous sentencing votes in military trials, no possibility of reversing or commuting a sentence, etc.”

Israeli lawmakers would do well to realize that any nation that engages in the blatant human rights violation that is capital punishment inherently becomes unfit for civilized humanity. History has demonstrated and will continue to reveal that the death penalty not only condemns individuals to death, but it also morally condemns any civilization that enacts it. May Israel not follow this ill-fated path now. Instead, may it join the growing number of world nations that have finally put an end to this barbaric practice.

In the ancient Jewish text Pirkei Avot – Ethics of the Fathers – Rabbi Tarfon famously taught: “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” (2: 16) L’chaim’s advocacy for death penalty abolition will not itself save the world. Still, it will assuredly help move the needle forward for the desperately needed advancement of civilized humanity in Israel and across the globe. There are few more sacred tasks to undertake in life than this – the protection of the sanctity of life itself. And so, as we continue to advocate for death penalty abolition, we shall vociferously maintain the chant: “L’chaim – to Life!”

Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM, BCC

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

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action