I
remember when I was growing up and eating dinners as a family. The TV would be
on and the news would list the daily body counts during the Vietnam War. They
were just numbers, the dead, the wounded the missing. After a while, they were
just numbers, not people to many of those watching the news. Of course, it was
a very different situation to those involved and their families. But, all of
this violence took place in a war where violence was the only option for the
soldiers. Doing the work that I do -- dealing
with homicide, suicide, domestic violence and PTSD -- violence is “the
chosen response.” More and more American civilians are “choosing” to respond to
adversity and disagreements with acts of violence. What is the problem? Read
Rabbi Leynor’s blog at -- http://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2014/11/violence-values-trust.html
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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