Commentaries by Michael J. Zoosman

On Tuesday, August 11, after 22 years without an execution in Lebanon, the country’s parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to formally scrap capital punishment. The new law replaces death sentences with life imprisonment with hard labor. And what was the only party on record in that country to [...]

Israel’s new death penalty law is one of the most discriminatory pieces of execution legislation that the world has witnessed since Hitler’s Third Reich. This incontrovertible truth is yet another reason why the Israeli Knesset’s recent passage of its heinous “Death Penalty for Terrorists” law on March 30 has effectively defiled this year’s observance of [...]

US President Donald J. Trump has launched his most dangerous act of aggression yet on the world stage. Posterity will be taking copious notes on how the world responds.  Trump’s illegal February 28, 2026, attack on Iran came after he offered the Trojan horse of sham “diplomacy” to de-escalate a purported nuclear threat to the [...]

During the very week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the Israeli Knesset continues to debate a monstrous proposed bill to resurrect capital punishment in the ostensible Jewish state. Such a spectacle is nothing short of an abject desecration of that sacred day. Drawing directly on his Holocaust experience, Nobel Laureate and acclaimed [...]

With every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to become an agent of the angel of death. Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) Holocaust survivor and [...]

Years ago, a rabbi I greatly admire confided in me how he worried that an Israeli government with Benjamin Netanyahu at the helm might lead to the destruction of the Jewish people. His concern surprised me. As a young ordained cantor at the time, I was not nearly as well-versed in Middle Eastern geopolitics or [...]

The US government should not kill Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin. State-sponsored murder won’t stem the rising tide of political violence looming over all of us. And Utah is one of only five states in the US that allows execution by firing squad. Though rare, the prospect of the state shooting Mr. Robinson to death for [...]

Vengeance. It undeniably infects human affairs. Parents observe it as their toddlers navigate playground dynamics: one child hits another; the other strikes back. Domestic feuds and old grudges can metastasize into jealousy, schadenfreude, and—if unchecked—retaliation. Belligerent drivers yield microaggressions that can morph into road rage. In the extreme, assault and murder seem to beg for [...]

I began publicly invoking the word “genocide” in July 2025 to describe the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza in response to the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, and the incomprehensible ongoing hostage crisis. Since that time, despite increasing agreement among liberal Jewish organizations over the use of this term, I [...]

Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom. – Viktor E. Frankl Content warning: This essay briefly describes a suicide attempt. If you or someone you know are/is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please [...]