Put to Death

John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday night for the sniper attacks in 2002 that left 10 dead in a three-week killing spree. Muhammad's attorneys earlier had asked Governor Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was severely mentally ill.

There is capital punishment in the Torah, but it was rarely executed; the Talmud-Book of Law states that if more than one person in seventy years was put to death the courts were considered murderers. The reason for capital punishment in the Torah/Teaching is for the benefit of the soul as explained in the Cabala.

America puts people to death as a deterrent, an example to the rest of the population not to step out of line. The taking of a life is a very serious thing particularly when it is dragged out to a preordained finality for the sake of example–this is not justice this is retribution and revenge. Most civilized countries, despite the heinous nature of the crime, reject capital punishment.

In the final prayers of Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement is written, God does not want our death but our repentance. To put to death for the sake of deterrent a mentally ill man who thinks he is being executed because he is black–is inhuman.

When a person dies, good or bad, it is a custom among the Jewish People to say, Barach Dyan HaEmet/God is the True Judge.