Fast and Slow Justice

Rabbi Melanie Aron

June 1, 2002

Sometimes when we study the Torah, it is clear immediately why this text has had such great meaning to so many people over the centuries. We find in scripture teachings of great moral value and stories which resonate with us, thousands of years after they were first written down.

But some sections of the Torah are more difficult to relate to, and some seem to stand in opposition to our own point of view and even to Jewish values as we understand them.

Melissa encountered one of these passages in her Torah portion this week!

Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole community. He was placed in custody, for it had not been specified what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall be put to death: the whole community shall pelt him with stones outside the camp." So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death - as the LORD had commanded Moses.

In our conversations about this passage, Melissa was disturbed by the harshness of the punishment. Certainly we as a Reform community do not identify with those Haredim in Israel who throw stones at Jews driving on Shabbat. Instead we find out guidance in our Rabbinic traditions where there is reluctance to resort to the death penalty. The rabbis of the Talmud taught: A court which imposes the death penalty, once in 70 years, is unduly blood thirsty.

In the rabbis understanding of this text, they added warnings and earlier offenses to make this conform with their understanding of judicial procedure. For example, in the rabbis interpretation of this text, the Sabbath violator must be warned that he is making himself culpable for a capital crime and this warning needs to be witnessed. He must be of age and of sound mind and a repeat offender.

But beyond the rabbi's reinterpretation, I wonder what are we to learn from this text itself. Professor Avigdor Shinan of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem attempts to answer this question. He notes that there are 4 cases in the Bible where problems are brought before Moses for judgment because the law at that time did not specifically deal with their issue.

In all 4 Moses acknowledges at first that he does not know what to do and waits for God's guidance. He doesn't hesitate to expose the limits of his knowledge and in that way was a role model to all those in positions of leadership. From Moses we learn that it is ok to admit to not knowing everything.

But there was more to this story. Shinan quotes the Targum Yonatan, an early Aramaic commentary: "In two cases Moses was cautious and in two he was quick."

Concerning the second Passover and the Daughters of Zehophehad who wanted to inherit their father's property, Moses acted quickly - these were monetary cases relating to donations and inheritance.

But in two cases Moses was cautious because these were capital crimes. The Targum goes on to explain that he acted as he did "to teach all judges that they should act quickly in monetary cases and cautiously in capital cases, for a mistake in monetary matters can be corrected, but if someone has been executed, who can bring him back to life?"

Melissa, the section you read from the Torah, is so clearly rooted in a different time and place, in a society with different norms and where Sabbath observance is a particularly do or die issue for the community. Reading it at first, it seemed to have nothing to say to us.

Yet examining the passage carefully, we find we can learn something as individuals about humility and being able to say, I don't know, when that is the case.

From your portion, we can also derive important teachings for our society. Today we sometimes seem to do the opposite of what this text teaches. Our civil suits are often not resolved expeditiously, while in capital cases we are not providing the defendants with adequate legal representation. We find ourselves in danger of killing someone whom dna evidence, or other, investigation, might prove to be innocent.

From this difficult and strange story of the Torah, let us find the inspiration to examine our own legal system and make those corrections necessary for our own times.