My Thoughts on Public Execution

Relevant bit from an old article:

And why is “making the execution a blood-thirsty spectacle for the masses” not a hiddur mitzvah of the true Torah’s deterrence strategy: “למען ישמעו ויראו”?! Isn’t it important to preserve some fear: עבוד מיראה ועבוד מאהבה וכולי?!

By the way, although an on-the-books death penalty doesn’t deter murderers, the rate of actual, (preferably public) executions does, in fact, deter murderers (see Dr. Walter Block’s executive summary of a revolutionary, new study of the numbers).

למה יש כ”כ הרבה הסברה (פרופגנדה) סביב מצות תכלת? ת: כי כך צורת המצוה – כמאמרה

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר. דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם וְעָשׂ֨וּ לָהֶ֥ם צִיצִ֛ת…

אין חיוב ללבוש בגד ארבע כנפות.

וז”ל הרש”ר הירש עה”ת בהסבר לישנא דקרא:

דבר וגו׳ ואמרת וגו׳ ועשו להם וגו׳ – כפי שכבר אמרנו (באוסף כתבים, כרך ג עמ׳ קלט–קמ), אילו היה זה ציווי מוחלט, הייתה לשון הכתוב: ״דבר וגו׳ ויעשו להם״ וגו׳. ״ועשו״ מורה על כך שהעשייה היא התוצאה של ״ואמרת אלהם״: הקיום יבוא מאליו, כתוצאה מהוראותיו וביאוריו של משה. אמור להם את כל מה שקדם ואת כל מה שקשור אליו; ועשה אותם מודעים לכך, כדי שישיבוהו אל הלב, ויעשו בשמחה ציצית על כנפי בגדיהם, כפי שאני מצוום.

‘I will make Aliyah when Moshiach arrives’ – Don’t Be So Sure!

Shmuel Sackett makes a great point:

According to the Rambam (yes, there are different opinions, but the Rambam has always been the leading source), the world will act exactly as it does now with one change: There will be 100% total peace. No wars, no anti-Semitism, no “Free Palestine” demonstrations and no NY mayors who threaten to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister. When that happens, when nobody will call your daughter a “filthy Zionist” in Columbia University… when security guards are no longer needed outside shuls and Bet Chabads around the world… when Tucker Carlson, Mel Gibson and Kanye West start loving Jews again… why would you leave your big house in Boca Raton or Monsey and move to an apartment in Ramat Bet Shemesh? Also – how much do you think your house will be worth at that time?
Remember the words of the Rambam: “Olam k’minhago holech” (The world will continue according to its pattern). This means that you will have to sell your house, find a job in Israel, register your kids in school and worst of all: Learn Hebrew (oh no!!!)
Or… you can choose “Option #2” which is far simpler. Stay in your present home, keep your cushy job, let your kids go to the same summer camps, fly to exotic places during “Yeshiva week” and simply book a suite at the Waldorf for Sukkot and Pesach and hop over to the Bet Ha’Mikdash, after the 10-course breakfast! Did you really think that Moshiach – the King of Israel – would change all your plans? I am afraid that the opposite might be true!
It will be thanks to Moshiach that your life in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France etc… just got better! No more fear of walking around Europe wearing a kippa! No more hiding your Jewish star necklace in universities! Please convince me… NO!! – let me rewrite that: Please convince yourselves that when anti-Semitism is down to ZERO, you will really pack up everything and move to Israel.
This is why I never push Aliyah as an answer to anti-Semitism. That is not the reason for coming home. Don’t run away from things… run towards your destiny and your Nation!