“An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. The injury one inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him.” (Leviticus 24:20)These are harsh words that are quite direct. In the United States, this legal principle still holds true with the death penalty. If you kill someone, you could be killed by the state as punishment. Some societies still practice “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth” in the literal sense. However, the rabbis quickly denounced the practice of removing an eye from someone who had poked out the eye of another. They said that this wasn’t what was intended at all – many factors had to be taken into account when determining punishment and restitution. After all, an eye might be worth something different to someone whose occupation was based on sight.
Restitution is fundamental to doing teshuva. It’s not enough to say you’re sorry. We are obligated to try and make whole a person we have hurt.
But what if the person is dead? I believe in cosmic restitution. And the concept of “an eye for an eye” gives us guidance. If physical restitution is impossible, one can still make restitution out to the universe; to make whole – or at least a little more whole – the damage we have done.
In the Richard Attenborough movie Gandhi, a Hindu nationalist confesses to Gandhi that he murdered a Muslim child. He is full of remorse and guilt. Gandhi tells him that the only way to repent – though it cannot undo the murder – is to adopt a Muslim child orphaned by the violence, and raise him to be an observant Muslim adult.
And the universe can be made a bit more whole.
Sharon Kleinbaum is the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York City, the largest LGBT synagogue in the world. www.cbst.org
