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DEBATE The I,egality OfJesuso Trial UnderJernrish Law JcsusBcfore ThcSanhedrtur he past 20 centuries have seena steady stream of and Lemann conversionsappears in my book Salvation is Jews entering the Church, bringing with them from the Jews). their own particular gifts and talents,beginning. The Lemann brothers went on to found an orphanage, of course,with the l2 apostles(prudence prevents a home for the deaf, and severalreligious associations;to me from beginningthe list with the BlessedVirgin Mary participate actively in the first Vatican Council; and to and Our Lord Himselfl. write over 60 religious and apologetic works, many of Nineteenth century France had a number of prominent which used their deep knowledge of Hebrew language, Jewsenter the Church.Best known perhapsare the Ratis- scriptures,and laws, to illumine issuesof the Catholic bonne brothers, one of whom, Alphonse, was converted Faith. instantaneouslyby an apparition of the BlessedVirgin One of the most important of these was "/esasBefore Mary. They went on to found an order in the Holy Land the Sanhedrin, in which they showed that the trial of specificallyto pray for the conversionof the Jews. Jesusbefore the Sanhedrinviolated Jewishlaw in literal- Less well known, but equally distinguished,were the ly dozensof ways, any one of which would havesufficed Lemann brothers.Jewish twins orphanedat a young age to invalidate the final verdict. and brought up by relatives,they enteredthe Church as The ire of the Lemann brothers was never directed teenagersat the cost of their home, family, fortune, and towards the Jewish people, but rather towards the comrpt almost of their lives (a fuller accountof the Ratisbonne Jewishleaders of that time who, in order to preservetheir 4(' INSTDE THE VATIGAN MARCH 2OO5 own powerand prerogatives,threw to the winds all Jew- word in his def'ense'l Sanhedrintook placeirt ish normsof justiceand railroadedthrough the condem- The seconclsuch session of the and a half rrtonthsafier nationof Jesus.thus depriving the Jewsthemselves. His the rnonthof February.about tbur of Lazaruswas the own peopleaccording to the f-leshand those ttl whom He the flrst session.The resurrection into council at this first iame ("1 wassent only to the lost sheepof the house occasionthat called the Sanhedrin their time.John in his Gospel(Chapter ll. verses47-53) nar- of Israel,"Mt l5:24).the joy and graceof receiving "So story: the chief priestsand the Pharisees own Messiah.It wasfiom the depthof theiryearning that ratesthe 'What said, are we to do'l For their coreligionistsmi-eht frnally throw oti the blindness gatheredthe iouncil, and If we let hinl go on thus. irnposedon themby thoseunworthy author.ities, that they ihir rnanperfbrms rnany signs. and the Romanswill ctlnle wrbte the work, from which the fbllowing is drawn' every-clestroyone will believein him' -Rov Schoeman and both our holy placeand our nation.'But one of them,Caiaphas. who washigh priestthat year.said to 'You you do not understand Ttrri S,rstIIII)RIN them. know nothingat alll onernan should die tor the The Sanhedrin,or GrandCouncil, was the high court thatit is expedientfbr you that nationshould not perish''So of justice and the supremetribunal of the Jews.It was people.and that the whole took counselhow to put ertablishedat Jerusalemafier the Babylonian tiom that day on they Captivity.It is theopinion of therabbis that the him to death." at this secondcouncil the assemblyof the Sanhedrinwas no other than We seethen. that upon. In the Sep- the onethat Moses himself had established. To deathof Christ was decided wasproposed only indi- pronouncethis name before Israelitesis to tembersession his death sentenceis passed,the iecall to theirminds the mostlearned, the most rectly,but this time the declaredthat it were equitable.and the most honorableassembly high-priesthaving himself diel that everexisted. bettertor one lnan to pronouncedwithottt We shallendeavor, by the helpof God. This sentencewas intocouncil, with- to tear the veil asunder,that our Hebrew summoningthe accused and without rnaking any brethrenmay at last know the truth. We out witnesses, doctrinesor his mira- shall make use of Jewishdocuments of investigationof his was it pronouncedbecause the highest importance and the most cles. Neither to be seditiousor revtllu- unquestionableauthenticity, to showhow Above, the Lemann Jesuswas fbund it was necessaryto put the dignity of this high tribunal was brothers.Below, AlPhonse tionary,but because and thus destroythe abusedby the immoraland unjust charac- Ratisbonne a stopto his miracles, him. The sentencehaving ter of the men composingit. We, as sons peopies'belief in by the high-priest.it was of Israel,have studied the subjectof Jew- beenpronounced assemblY. ish legislationI'rom its own sources. ratifledby the whole "Frorn on they took counsel inquiringminutely into the legality of the that day proceedingsof the Sanhedrinagainst how to put him to death." "Behold question;there remains to Christ.and say. the guiltyl These It is a settled thetime andthe manner arethe men who haveled the wholeJew- be determinedonly " Havewe not here ish nationastray. of executingthe sentence. ample evidence that the condemnation tlf and trial'l \Yt tt:x \\',\s Jtist's Ctlxlltlrtxtitl Jesuspreceded his arrest was held about three T() I)I],Y|II? The third session just two daysbefbre Even betbreJesus was broughtto public weeksafier the second. trial tollowing his arrestin the Gardenof the Passion. "Now of UnleavenedBread drew Gethsemane,the Sanhedrinhad already the f'east And the chief priests assembledthree times in secretand rendereddecisions near.which is calledthe Passover' put him to death;ftlr which prove,beyond a doubt.that the death-sentenceof andthe scribeswere seeking how to the chief priestsand the Christwas determinedupon even betore his public accu- they fearedthe people.Then the palaceof the high sation.The flrst suchmeeting was held in Septemberof eldersof the peoplegathered in andtoo-k.counsel togeth- the yearpreceding the crucifixion.This fact is madeclear priest,who wascalted Caiaphas, stealthand kill hirn.But they by St. Johnthe Evangelistin his accountof Jesushealing ir in orderto arrestJesus by "For 'Not therebe a tumult among th" mrn born blind, when he states. the Jews had said, during the f'east,lest (Lk. -2. 26:3-5). alreaclyagreed that if any mandid conf'essthat he wasthe thepeople"' 22:l Mt. thequestitln of the sen- Christ,hJshould be put out of thesynagogue." (Jn. 9:22) We noticethat at this gathering His deathhad al- For only a solemnassembly of the Sanhedrinhad power tenceof Christ is no longer debated. at the secondsession' The to pronouncesuch a decreeof excommunication. readybeen determined upon settledare the t.nanner ln e*.o*.unicating Jesus'followers, they indirectly only thingsthat now remainto be fbr its execution. declaredJesus a false prophet,and hencesubject to the of his cleathand the propertime 'not of the threecouncils' death penalty.Is this a proof, as Nicodemushad Now let us sum up the decisions the partisansof irnplietl(Jn. 7:51). that they had already condernned him The first council, in excommunicating prophet' and conse- wiihout having grantedhim a hearingor listenedto a Christ. denouncedhim as a false *.'-- U* :ilt$'" INSIDE THE VATIGAN 4l DEBATE I'lrt'5irrr lrt'r Ir"iu quentlyguilty of death.In the secondcouncil, the ques- timony of each witness.Deut. xix. 18. Mishnah Srur- tion of whetherhe shoulddie was proposed,and it was hedrin ch. v, I unanimouslydecided in the affirmative.In the third \rttlt,,u't<lx 6: No testimonyis valid unlessthe wit- "lf council,his arrestand executionwere appointedto take nessesall agreein eachdetail: onewitness contradicts placeat the first favorableopportunity. We now ask of another.the testimonyis not accepted."Mishnah Srur- everysincere Israelite if the trial of Christwas not a fear- hetlrirt,ch. v, #2., MaimonidesSqnhetlrin ch. xx ful mockeryand a lie It is impossibleto reconcile these precedingfive The subsequenttrial of Jesuson the eveof thePassion entailed no lessthan 27 violationsof Jewishlaw. any singleone of which would be sufficientto nullify the verdict of the Sanhedrin.[Note: for reasonsof spacenot all of the 2l appear in thisextract.l \.ttlt-Yilos 1: The court was prohibit- ed from meetingto decidecapital cases eitheron a Sabbathor f-east-dav.or on the "Court precedingday; must not be held on the Sabbath,or any holy day."Mish- n011,Betzo, ch. v, #2 "They shallnotjudge on the eveofthe Sabbath-day,nor on that of any festival" Mishnoh,Sanhedrin, ch. iv. #l \rt<lI"Yftox 3: A capitaltrial could not "Let takeplace at night: it be rriedduring the day and suspendedat night," Mish- rruh,Sunhedrin, ch. iv. #1. This is further expoundedby Maimonides:"The reason why the trial of a capital off'ensecould not be held at night is becausea more thoroughand searchingexamination can " be rnadeby daylight. Maimonides,Sarr- hedrirt. ch. iii No sessionof the Court could take place before the off'eringof the morning "The sacrifice: Sanhedrinsat from the closeof the morningsacrifice to the time of the eveningsacriflce." Thlmucl Jeru- sulem,kmheclrin, ch. i, folio l9', Tulnrucl Bobt'loniunch. x. fblio 88; alsoMishnult Thuticl ch. iii Both of theseprohibitions - that a capitaltrial couldnot takeplace on theeve of a feast-day. requirementswith respectto witnesseswith the Gospel - "Now nor at night were violatedwhen the first part of the accountsof the trial, for instance: the chief priests trial of Jesustook placeduring the night precedingthe
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    The NEP Era: Soviet Russia 1921-1928, 2 (2008), 39-59. MICHAEL C. HICKEY1 (Bloomsburg, PA, USA) COMMUNISTS VS. CLERICS: THE SMOLENSK CHORAL SYNAGOGUE, THE KHISLAVICHI ROV SHTIBEL SYNAGOGUE AND THE NEP ANTIRELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN The early Soviet regime viewed the Jewish communities of the former Pale of Settlement and in the western provinces of the RSFSR as a declassed or petit-bourgeois element to be transformed through productive labor.2 When, during the “Jewish NEP,” the Communist Party’s Jewish Section (Evsektsiia) turned its “Face to the Shtetl,” its primary goal was to make Jews productive or productivize them by transforming them into workers and peasants.3 Productivization became intertwined with the regime’s other major goal on the Jewish street – dismantling traditional religious culture and re- placing it with a secularized Soviet culture and identity.4 In Smolensk and other locales where relatively large numbers of Jews lived in compact con- centrations, Soviet policy mandated that these aims be met through indigeni- zation (korenizatsiia), which entailed providing state services and conducting 1. The author wishes to thank Golfo Alexopoulos, Alexis Pogorelskin, Andrew Sloin, Susan Stemont, Rex A. Wade, Robert Weinberg and this journal’s anonymous referees, whose sugges- tions greatly improved this essay, the research for which was facilitated by an IREX Short-Term Travel Grant (a US Department of State Title VIII Program). 2. On Soviet “Jewish experts” and the “shtetl problem” during NEP, see Deborah Yelen, “‘On the Social-Economic Front’: The Polemics of Shtetl Research during the Stalin Revolu- tion,” Science in Context, 20, no. 2 (2007): 239-301, esp.