(WHTM) -- What are the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue seeking? What does the Jewish religion say about the death penalty?
The answer to what Jewish people and Judaism say about the death penalty is about as simple as an answer to what Americans and America say about the death penalty - which is not simple at all.
The shooter responsible for the horrific acts on Oct. 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life Synagogue is now being held accountable after four and a half years.
Robert Bowers was found guilty on all 63 federal charges brought against him and is now facing a possible death sentence.
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About six out of every ten Americans support the death penalty, a solid, although shrinking majority, according to the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Center also found that religious Americans are more likely than atheists and agnostics to support the death penalty, however, the sample size of Jewish people specifically was too small to say whether they were statistically included.
But what about Jewish law - the Torah, also known as the Five Books of Moses?
"There is not one of those books that doesn't call for the death penalty in one way or another," said Rabbi Danny Schiff of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
Schiff, who spoke to abc27 from Jerusalem, said rabbis 2,000 years ago were already limiting the death penalty's use.
So what's their view?
"While the death penalty is theoretically available, it should be a last resort," said Schiff.
What about Bowers, who killed eleven worshippers?
"Would this be the particular circumstance when the very rare application of the death penalty that Judaism would allow for might in fact be utilized? And that, of course, leads to differing opinions," Schiff added.
Judaism's reform movement, which includes Temple Ohev Sholom in Harrisburg, has officially come out against capital punishment. But the same cannot be said for more religious branches of Judaism.
Does that mean Jewish people are a lot like Americans in general?
"What you say is sensible. Those Jews who identify as being more liberal are more likely to think about the death penalty being used more sparingly than those Jews who are more on the key on the conservative or orthodox end," Schiff said.
What that "just" punishment is for Bowers and other people facing the death penalty will remain a matter of debate for Jews here and everywhere.
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