Teshuvah and Criminal Justice: An Exploration of Second Chances
Course Details
In this course, we’ll do a deep dive into teshuvah (repentance) and the rehabilitation process after one has committed various types of offenses. We’ll ask whether it’s ever too late to turn over a new leaf, and what the consequences should be for a communal leader who speaks or acts inappropriately.
For example, what should happen to a shohet, a community butcher, who fraudulently sold his customers non-kosher meat? What about a politician convicted of bribery who wants to return to public office? Should the damage to someone’s reputation or employment ever be permanent? Rooting ourselves in Jewish texts, we’ll explore complex real-life cases together. In doing so, we’ll see firsthand how approaching these moral questions through a lens of Jewish tradition can offer unique insights.
Yitzhak Bronstein is the Director of the Maimonides Moot Court Competition and a member of the Hadar faculty. He is in the inaugural cohort of Rabbanut North America: The Hartman Beit Midrash for New North American Rabbis. Yitzhak has an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School with a focus on religious ethics and a BA from Yeshiva University in philosophy. He also studied for two years at Yeshivat Har Etzion. Yitzhak lives in Rockville, MD with his wife Catherine.
