God of the hurting and heartbroken,
God of the powerful and the impoverished,
God of those blessed with abundance and those abandoned to abuse.
On this week when we read about the severe consequences for the sin of the Golden Calf, we are
reminded of how prone to error we truly are.
The same people who burst into professions of faith at the parting of the waters succumb to panic when
they cannot find Moses, then thank something they took from the furnace a minute ago for freeing
them from Egypt.
Moses cannot explain their actions, but he pleads their cause. To expect consistency and rationality
from those who have endured centuries of trauma, whose only priority has been survival, is to expect
too much.
On this week when our state Senate has received a bill that would ban the death penalty for those with
severe mental illness, we ask our legislators to remember that there are those among us who do not
have the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, whose culpability should be mitigated by their
limited capacity, and whose lack of understanding should protect them from ultimate punishment. We
cannot explain the fatal actions of those with severe mental illness, but we can plead their cause.
Moses does not argue that the people who worship the Golden Calf are innocent. Rather, he convinces
God that to destroy them is to break a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to compromise God’s own
commitment to the covenant. So, too, we mourn the pain that those with severe mental illness have
caused. We do not profess their innocence or argue that they should go unpunished. What we do
maintain is that to take their lives is to compromise our love of mercy, our commitment to compassion
and our covenant with conscience.
It is true that Reform Judaism opposes the death penalty under all circumstances, but abolishing capital
punishment is not in this bill or even on the table in our state right now. The question is whether people
who cannot fully comprehend the consequences of their actions can be held to full account. Science and
reason, compassion and mercy compel us to reply that the answer to that question is no. Just as God
and Moses withheld death from some participants in the sin of the Golden Calf, we ask that our state
senators withhold the death penalty from those with severe mental illness. Like the destructive deeds of
the former slaves who went forth from Egypt, we cannot explain the fatal crimes committed by those
with severe mental illness. We are not called upon to comprehend them. We are called on to demand
justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.
May this be our blessing and let us say: Amen.
Please reach out to our state senators by phone, mail and social media encouraging them to support this
legislation. For a list of state senators and contact information, go to Apps.legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/
smembers_county.html
