Countless individuals and organizations have rightfully condemned Israel’s heinous death penalty for terrorists law, the macabre celebration of which desecrated the Passover holiday that began just days after the Knesset passed it into law. The thousands of members of our group, “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” in Israel and worldwide, have been part of a vast coalition sounding the alarm over this development since death proponents first proposed it. The efforts for L’chaim and other Jews and non-Jews of good conscience across the globe now turn to petitioning for the repeal of this monstrous law at the judicial level by the Supreme Court of Israel. As we do so, it seems fitting and helpful to pause for a moment to view the upcoming court hearings from the vantage point of their broader historical context.

The subject of the death penalty constitutes one of the most enduring topics for judicial debate in the history of ancient and modern Israel, spanning the millennia from the ancient rabbinic Sanhedrin to the current Supreme Court of Israel. Most of the issues argued before the original rabbinic court have since been resolved or are no longer the subject of debate. (The final setting of the formal Jewish calendar, for example, served as that Court’s final topic of discussion before it was dissolved.) Yet, just as the Sanhedrin hotly debated capital punishment roughly two millennia ago, so too now is the Supreme Court of Israel set to do so yet again.  Rabbinical judges of the Sanhedrin approached the legality of executions from the framework of Halacha (Jewish law). In contrast, contemporary secular judges ostensibly do so from the viewpoint of modern Israeli law and ethics, which are, of course, informed by Jewish tradition. 

The stakes could not be higher now for the land of Israel, and for Jews the world over. As this debate enters its latest chapter, civilized humanity is watching very closely to see if Israel will transcend the base, if understandable, urge for vengeance that ultimately fuels any call for the death penalty. In the wake of the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, the deterrence delusion that proponents have used to justify the passage of this racist, dangerous, vengeful, and unjust death penalty law has once again reared its ugly head. It is now up to Israel’s contemporary High Court to redeem Israel, and Judaism as a whole, with unconditional repeal of this abject abomination. 

Debating the death penalty in the Sanhedrin

The Great Sanhedrin was the most authoritative Jewish religious and judicial body in Israel during the Second Temple era, from the Hasmonean period (approximately 2nd century B.C.E.) until around 425 C.E., when the Romans ultimately disbanded it. It consisted of 71 members, including a president (nasi) and a vice-president (av bet din). It comprised chief priests, elders, and scribes (scholars), typically representing both Pharisee and Sadducee factions. Members were required to be sages with deep knowledge of Torah law, as well as possessing desirable qualities such as humility, respectability, and maturity. 

The Sanhedrin held the authority to impose the death penalty, but utilized strict procedural safeguards that made executions extremely rare. A quorum of 23 judges was required for capital cases—a conviction required at least two eyewitnesses who had warned the perpetrator of the consequences immediately before the act. Circumstantial evidence was inadmissible. If a conviction was unanimous, it was sometimes overturned because a unanimous verdict indicated inadequate defense of the accused. According to the Talmud, the Sanhedrin ceased presiding over capital cases 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, as it had lost the authority to do so under Roman rule.

Even before beginning its own debates on the matter, the Sanhedrin already had much to consider regarding the death penalty, given inherited Jewish texts. The Torah lists nearly thirty........

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