The Torah In Haiku: Matot/Ma’sei

Six refuge cities
Seeds of argument against
The death penalty

Click here to read a D’var Torah I wrote in 2010 for this portion, using the idea of refuge cities as a jumping off point to argue that, despite the many capital crimes listed in the Torah, Jewish tradition opposes imposition of the death penalty.  Of course, that’s just one side of the argument, as the image I selected for this post suggests.