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Did a death sentence change Judaism forever? On the eve of Hoshana Rabah, I attended the annual nighttime lectures at the Israel Center in Jerusalem. Rabbi Nachum Amsel gave a most interesting talk on The Jewish Attitude to Capital Punishment. The reason that I found this teaching to be so interesting is that it added another piece to the puzzle. Many profound changes took place within Judaism in 30 CE and one of them had to do with the Jewish attitude to capital punishment. The Sanhedrin could only render a sentence of death from the temple because the Torah says:
According to the Talmud:
The reason that is given for the discontinuation of capital punishment is that there were too many murderers at the time and the Sanhedrin did not want to appear to be a “hanging court.” A more likely scenario, however, is that the execution of Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph (known today as Jesus) caused such turmoil that the Sanhedrin decided that it would never again put itself in such a position. The move of the Sanhedrin to Hanuth took place in the very year that Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph was executed. It should also be noted that when the Roman Proconsul, Pontius Pilate, washed his hands of the matter, the Pharisees of Beit Shammai said: “Let his blood be upon our heads…” The result was that the disciples of Rabbi Shammai vanished for all time. Judaism abandoned the teachings of Beit Shammai and embraced the teachings of Beit Hillel (which had been championed by Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph). So by his death (one could make the point that) Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph [Jesus] became the savior of the Jewish people even though his mission was to save “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (i.e. the lost ten tribes of Israel). The changes in Judaism during the forty years following Rabbi Joshua’s execution were very radical indeed. Judaism even went back to an interpretation of the oral law which had been largely abandoned after the death of Rabbi Hillel. Help this ministry with a tax deductible donation. |