We, the thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” from Israel and abroad, join the members of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and countless other Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in unequivocally condemning the  racist, dangerous, vengeful, and unjust death penalty bill that a majority of Knesset members, as expected, recently passed into law under the convenient cover of the fog of war. They did so as Jews around the world are busy preparing for Pesach (Passover), arguably Judaism’s most widely celebrated holiday. This consummate festival of liberation derives its name from a climactic point in the narrative of the vaunted Exodus, when Malakh HaMavet (the “Angel of Death”) passed over (pasach) the houses of the enslaved Israelites.  In a wanton act of desecration of this sacred season, proponents of this monstrous legislation have invited back into Eretz Yisrael the man-made version of this Malach HaMavet. They have done so just ahead of the Fast of the First Born, when observant Jews fast, lest they succumb to that very killer angel that lawmakers have unleashed across the land. Indeed, it was none other than death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) who aptly referred to capital punishment as just that: the “Angel of Death.” In the wake of this horrific development, L’chaim members pledge to redouble our efforts to keep Wiesel’s abolitionist torch aflame, now more than ever.

Removing Death Penalty “Chametz”

Just as Jews have sought to rid their homes of forbidden chametz (leavened products) ahead of this Passover season, so, too, do we now begin the work of repealing this law and ridding Israel once and for all of capital punishment. It so happened that this devastating news of the passage of this law broke while L’chaim’s co-founder, Cantor Michael Zoosman, was sitting down with........

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