QUESTION: What is the Torah view of capital punishment by secular authorities?
ANSWER: The Torah view is that it’s a wonderful thing. “If somebody sheds the blood of a man – by means of man, – his blood should be shed. The Torah says if somebody kills a human being you gentiles shouldn’t wait for the Almighty to step in and take revenge. ‘Don’t wait for Me. I’ll be very angry at you. It’s your job to shed his blood.’ It’s an open verse in the Torah. And it’s not for Jews alone. It’s for everybody; it’s one of the sheva mitzvos bnei Noach. They must kill murderers. And that’s the only way.
How silly it was when they made a conference in Washington about crime and they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveys. Every penny was thrown out in the garbage. They should have spent fifty dollars and they could have had a solution. For fifty dollars they could take a construction worker from Bensonhurst, an Italian construction worker, and take him to Washington and they say, ‘Tony what do you say about punishing the murderer?’
Tony hasn’t been corrupted by college. He hasn’t listened to crazy theories, wacky statistics. All statistics are lies by the way; they’re all doctored. So, Tony hasn’t been deceived. He knows the facts. The way to stop crime is to kill the criminal. That’s all. If you want to stop felonies? So, call in Tony again and Tony will say ‘What do you mean? You’re going to give him color television and balanced meals? No; put him on a rock pile like the good old days.’
Any bum who thinks about a rock pile will think twice about doing a felony. The rock pile is not vacation time. The rock pile is a very difficult life and that’s how a criminal is supposed to be treated. A felon has to be treated like a felon. It’s crazy otherwise! They’re encouraging crime otherwise. It’s as simple as could be. The whole liberal establishment has gone crazy today.
And therefore, how does the Torah view capital punishment? It’s a necessity and without it a country cannot last
Reprinted from the Parshas Shemos 5784 email of Toras Avigdor adapted from Tape #339 (November 20, 1980)
