Stabbing in the Name of G-d?
Stabbing in the Name of G-d?

Stabbing someone you think is wrong? Really, have we come to that?

My hair stands on end when I consider that someone actually believes it’s the religious thing to do.

Let’s consider this. A major tenet of religion is to love G-d, right? What about G-d’s children? Suppose you come to G-d and say, I love you, but I think you did a terrible job with your kids. I can’t stand them. Is that a loving thing to say to someone you love?

Everyone agrees that the pathway to love G-d is to love His children. How can it be religious to stab a fellow Jew? I don’t care what he or she did. Of course homosexual intercourse is a sin and even a capital sin, but so is murder!!! Didn’t this man consider that? When the Torah calls for the death punishment it is through a Bet Din, Jewish Court, with all the proper procedures, criteria, guidelines and limitations. It doesn’t call for hot heads to fly off the handle and kill in the name of religion.

I have bad news for this misguided stabber. The people you tried to kill were not in the commission of a sin. They were celebrating a sinful lifestyle, but they weren’t committing a sin when you stabbed them. You, on the other hand, committed a sin, a terrible sin. You attempted to murder G-d’s precious children.

It has been asked why G-d inscribed the Ten Commandments on tablets after He spoke them, why wasn’t speaking them enough? It has been answered tongue in cheek that the Hebrew word Lo is a homonym, when spelled with an Alef it means no, when it is spelled with a vav it means to him. By writing it, G-d wanted to prevent religious zealots from practicing bigotry in the name of religion.

They would argue that the seventh commandment was, him, you should murder. That fellow, the guy I can’t stand, the fellow I labeled a heretic or sinner, yes, kill him. G-d wrote up the commandments so the world would see that He meant Lo with an Alef. No with a Capital N. No murder. Period. End of story.

It is mind boggling that religious criminals justify their sins, their crimes, with religion. What part of No Murder, did you not understand?

In conclusion I say this. Just like we expect all people to be loving towards all people even when we don’t agree with their behavior. Just like we expect this stabber to have condemned the behavior and loved the person, we must extend him the same courtesy. We condemn his behavior from the rooftops, but he is still a fellow Jew. Misguided, wrong and criminal, but a brother.

Let’s not forget him. His father is sitting somewhere crying over his son. His mother is hurting today. His father in heaven loves him too. And for that reason, so should we. Indeed, King David wrote that sinners should be hated, but he was talking about the sin, not the sinner. As is written in Tanya chapter thirty two, hatred on one side of our heart for the sin, love on the other side of our heart for the misguided man.