Most Orthodox Jews in America vote Republican and most Orthodox Jews in America support the death penalty and regard abortion as morally wrong.
Rabbi Yanklowitz is part of the left-wing Chovevei Torah crowd.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz writes:
In a petition initiated by Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox social justice movement, Jewish leaders across Jewish denominations expressed opposition to the use of the death penalty in America. As Jews, as citizens of a nation dedicated to liberty and justice, we believe that governments must protect the dignity and rights of every human being. The use of the death penalty, in America, fails to live up to this basic requirement.
Opposition to the overuse of capital punishment is embedded deep in the Jewish religious psyche. The rabbis taught that a court that puts others to death too often is deeply problematic. How often? Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says, “Every seventy years.” Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said: “If we were in a court, no person would ever be executed,” (Makkot 7a). While not categorically opposed to capital punishment, the rabbis saw the death penalty as so extreme a measure that they all but removed it from their system of justice. In contrast, our American system today lacks the highest safeguards to protect the lives of the innocent and uses capital punishment all too readily.
We do not naïvely believe that everyone on death row is completely innocent of any crime. Yet, too often, the wrong person is convicted for crimes they did not commit.
