Rabbi Jonathan Spira-Savett

Dear Representatives: When New Hampshire repealed the death penalty, I testified along with other faith leaders from across traditions and on behalf of the Jewish Clergy Association of New Hampshire. I shared how my own faith tradition has both acknowledged the severity of crimes that in the Bible are deemed punishable by death, and also acknowledged the impossibility of human beings to hold ourselves to a high enough standard of procedure and wisdom to entrust ourselves with taking a life in the name of society. I believe that most people influenced religiously by the Bible, Christian or Jewish, hold a version of this view now; the lex talionis may have been our ancestors' law but it is not ours. This is not an easy position to take, and certainly not an easy position for a Jew in our current world to take. Nonetheless, it is the guidance of our long Jewish tradition. It parallels the doubts articulated first from other sources about the motives that lead societies to seek punishments by death for crimes -- motives that are partially good but are at least just a bit sullied by vengeance, by superiority, by attributing virtues to one group over another, by discrimination overt or unaware. These are all reasons to keep our current New Hampshire system of punishing heinous crimes by the most severe prison terms. Opposing this bill does not mean you or I would be against justice for those who deserve it. Thank you for your service and consideration. Sincerely, Rabbi Jonathan Spira-Savett