Balancing Justice and Compassion
By: Rabbi Yitzchak Sprung, RMBA Upper School Judaic Studies Teacher and United Orthodox Synagogues Rabbi
The penalty for cursing God and for pagan worship is death by stoning. After he is killed, the perpetrator will be hung so that others will learn not to follow his path. How long shall he be hung for?
The Torah addresses this question explicitly in our parsha:
When a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, you will hang him on a tree. Do do not leave his body hanging on the tree; Instead, you must bury him that very day.
Why must he be buried that day? The verse explains in a phrase that is given to many different interpretations. We will cite just one.
So, why must this man be buried on that very day? כִּֽי־קִלְלַ֥ת אֱלֹהִ֖ים תָּל֑וּי, because the curse of the judge is hanging.
Shadal explains the meaning:
The putting to death of a sinner makes an impression on those who see, and all of the people will hear, be awed, and they will not sin more. But the cruelty to the body of the dead doesn’t not help a bit; rather, it is damaging, And if the executed man is left hanging on the tree as fodder for the birds of heaven, this will not drive people away from sin; on the contrary, it will bring those who see him to feel compassion and mercy for him, and they will come to curse judges and the law of God.
Shadal suggests here that the public execution and hanging of a man will leave an impression on those who see it. But if he is left to hang for too long, people will take it as a cruelty and they will not only feel compassion for a man who stood against all that they hold dear but they will come to hate the very laws that placed him in the noose in the first place.
A strong warning is issued in these words. We may stand for many things and we may need to oppose people who try to harm us. But if we go too far in our zeal for the right and good, we might act cruelly and drive people away from what we love and cherish as true and worthy.
The sensitive balance will be difficult to put our fingers on- firm and true, we must stand for ourselves and what we believe. Yet, we cannot be too hard on even criminals; that will do harm to them, to us, and to the people we seek to influence.
All in all, Shadal teaches us that very careful planning must go into everything, even, or especially, in standing against things that are wrong. That is to say, getting things right is the first step. Doing them the right way is no less essential.