Re: "
...a Sanhedrin...reinstitute the death penalty...if the state becomes more religious, see where it leads.I can tell you right now where it leads.
To a living Hell on Earth exactly like the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Iranian Mullahs.
To suddenly relaunch a criminal justice system which metes out the death penalty for crimes of adultery, cursing your parents, violating the Sabbath, homosexuality, and other such violations of Torah Law, on a population of Jews living in 2010, a full 2,000 years after
such things long ago ended except in places considered by Jews to be the most savage and barbaric, is going to go over about as big as The Spanish Inquisition.
Had most of the members here been born and nurtured under such a legal system, there would be few, if any of us, who wouldn't have been put to death long ago by Holy Men.
Nor would there be any of us not long ago silenced and punished severely for "the sin of spreading confusion" (telling another Jew that life is hard in the new State of Judea) and "the sin of slandering the Land" [meaning any criticism whatsoever of corrupt and evil leadership or insane suicidal policies - be it from the Sanhedrin or others in government.
Rest assured that there was rarely a time in Jewish history when Jewish leaders were not throughly corrupt and evil.
Take for example our exalted heroes the Maccabees:
Within only one generation after they defeated the Assyrians and restored Temple worship their newly established Hasmonean Dynasty became was a nest of corruption.
You people here need to wake up and stop with your foolish delusions about continuing on with modern Jewish national life exactly as it was lived and practiced at the very moment that Rome destroyed Judea and sacked the Temple.
Any modern day Sanhedrin or Jewish Government will be compelled to act as Moses commanded the Children of Israel - to appoint Judges who would rule over the Children of Israel by "interpreting Torah according to each generation" - meaning that as people, society, customs, and knowledge are constantly changing and advancing, to the extent that today's modern Jews are pioneering new worlds in space exploration, and discovering new branches of medicine and science, Judges chosen for their wisdom and unquestionable character must interpret the Law according to the needs of modern highly educated Jews.
The Criminal Justice statutes of Torah Law were applicable and acceptable to ancient Jews from a now extinct ancient world, a people who lived in stone houses without indoor plumbing, walked on dirt roads behind donkeys and camels, knew absolutely nothing of science, genetics, modern medicine, vaccinations, internal combustion engines, electromagnetic transmissions of audio, video, and text, laser light and digital technology, let alone understood the germ theory of disease.
These were a people who were fanatically insisted that if something was not found written in Torah, then it was a lie, was impossible, and those who refused to accept their point of view were denounced as heretic or worse.
Yes, I know that immediately there'll be a contingent of forum members condemning MassuhD, calling me names, wanting to know how dare I question the very will of Ha'Shem, etc... but you are all, to the last man and woman, self-delusional liars and hypocrites.
This I state with absolute certainty, as none of you here on this forum would
ever accept life under the strict literal Torah Criminal Justice Code and Capital Punishment Penalties as they were practiced circa 10 B.C.E. .
Not a day goes by here on the forum without regular condemnations and ridicule of the Islamic Sharia Law Penalties as nothing but barbarism and brutal acts of 6th Century maniacs who stone women to death, whip, amputate hands and feet, behead, hang, and allow wife beating.
But yesterday and today, almost the entire forum has been taken up with posts and threads about the suicide of a homosexual which resulted from school bullies, with threads by members insulting each other, accusing each other, berating each other, infuriating each other, and apologizing to each other ... even ending with a personal opinion and response by Chaim Ben Pesach stating that compassion should be shown to homosexuals.
And yet! ... With all the divisions this issue has revealed, "would-be holy men" are now all ready to fire up the animal sacrifices and then get down to the business at hand; that of killing all homosexuals, adulterers, children who have cursed their parents, and anyone who might have lit a fire on Shabbos to keep warm!
HOWEVER! ... Not so quick when it comes to charging an actual suspect seen running from a house covered in blood, after dozens of witnesses heard horrendous screams coming from someone inside the place, and then after the "suspect" ran out, the neighborhood went inside to find a woman dead on the floor stabbed one hundred times, and a bloody knife lying next to her body!
NO NO!
Can't jump to conclusions when it comes to Torah Law!
According to Torah Law, the "suspect" can not be found guilty of murder and executed,
unless he is apprehended with the actual murder weapon in his hand, and unless
two eye witnesses to the actual murder will testify that they saw the suspect commit the murder.
AND THEN! ... to make sure the two eye witnesses don't bear false witness against the accused, (of course Jews would
never bear false witness against another Jew!) those who testify against the accused are required to act as his executioners, and must cast the first stones in the process of crushing the condemned to death.
"Death by stoning" was in general carried out by pushing the condemned off an enbankment into a quarry and then crush them to death by dropping huge flat stones on top of them.
And
if the crime for which they were condemned was particularly egregious, Torah Law suggests that following the execution the dead body should be hung up on a tree or gate in public to rot and feed flies.
After all, it's the Will of Ha'Shem!
The Jew living in Medinat Judea 2010 MUST OBEY HA'SHEM'S EVERY WORD
exactly as written !
AND IF YOU DON'T! ... IF YOU DON'T! ...
THEN
YOU MUST BE PUT TO DEATH AND THEN HUNG UP ON A TREE TO ROT IN THE SUN!
(MassuhD suggests stringing the putrid mess across a tree or fence exactly adjacent to the most popular schwarma vendor - it always looks especially cool to have a crushed criminal strung up next to a huge chunk of steaming meat being cooked for a tasty meal - and the flies enjoy it too!)