Yesterday’s post [4/28/25] focused on a “What if…?” meditation around world-building, including these questions:

What if we tried this? What if structures flowed in this way…supporting X, Y, and Z? What if we had a different type of conversation going about this? — from “100 Days” (Day 98)

Today, I found that many of my attempts at “what if…?” yielded things like: “…people cared about the harm of our carceral systems!?” or “…humans were treated with basic dignity!? A little more on this below. But I did come up with one idea, based on a teaching about the Jewish calendar.

A time to heal

Today (April 29) begins a new month in the Jewish calendar: Iyar, אִייָר [alef-yud-yud-reish]. There is a teaching that the Hebrew letters are a kind of short-hand for a line from the Book of Exodus:

Ani (alef) YHVH ([God], yud-yud) Rofekha (reish) — I am YHVH (God), your healer (Exod 15:26)

So Iyar can be understood as a month of healing, a month to focus on awareness of divine healing and for experiencing and sharing extra love and healing, for ourselves and others.

[Image description: Hebrew letters for Iyar and verse: “Ani Hashem Rofekha“]

I learned a version of this teaching from Rena Branson, composer, singer, and leader. In addition, they composed a related song which has been a balm for me through many rough days. “Healer of the Brokenhearted” — shared here — is based on lines from Psalm 147:

Harofei lishvurei lev umkhabesh l’atz’votam 

Moneh mispar lakokhavim l’khulam shemot yikra

Healer of the brokenhearted and tender of our wounds

You account for every star and call each one by name — Ps. 147:3-4

The song is also available on Bandcamp. Learn more about Rena, enjoy more healing tunes, and support their new music-making if able.

May this teaching and the musical prayer carry us through the coming difficult weeks and beyond.

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A time to kill

We are about to enter a month in which the United States is scheduled to execute five people:

Date	State	Individual to be killed
May 1	Florida	Jeffrey Hutchinson
May 15	Florida	Glen Rogers
May 20	Texas	Matthew Johnson
May 20	Indiana	Benjamin Ritchie
May 22	Tennessee	Oscar Smith

from Death Penalty Information Center — Upcoming Executions

The U.S. has already killed 14 men in 2025, including three others in the state of Florida: James Dennis Ford, Edward Thomas James, and Michael Anthony Tanzi.

[The Omer period, from 4/14 – 5/31/25, has already included two executions — Moises Sandoval Mendoza (4/23 TX) and James Osgood (4/24 AL) — bringing the total number of executions scheduled for the Omer period to SEVEN.]

So, today, I’m considering:

What if we tried NOT allowing capital punishment?” We already know some answers: saving money, however crass that may be, and avoiding irreversible mistakes with no effect on deterrence (see Amnesty Int’l and DPIC fact sheets).

What if structures flowed to support war veterans like Jeffrey Hutchinson? Hutchinson’s family, and many other veterans, believe proper support when he asked for it could have avoided a crime he doesn’t even remember committing.

What if we had a different set of conversations going? The death of Pope Francis (12/17/1936 – 4/21/25), may his memory be for a blessing, has launched some new conversations: There has been a strong focus on his visiting prisoners in his final days and his legacy of changing Catholic teaching around capital punishment. In addition to making the death penalty “inadmissible” in all instances, he wrote: “[Executions] far from bringing justice, fuel a sense of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civil societies.”

What if we built a serious conversation around the words of Pope Francis, may his memory be for a blessing?

What if structures flowed toward Interrupting Criminalization and otherwise building communal safety?

What if tried building the networks and other support needed to end the death penalty, once and for all, and took to heart another teaching of Pope Francis: Life without parole is “not the solution to problems, but a problem to solve.”

In addition to the organizations linked above, there are many more resources on capital punishment here, including action and learning suggestions.

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Featured image is decorative text box reading: “A Time to Heal…A Time to Kill?” plus Hebrew for “Iyar” and “Ani ” Rofekha”

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