Trial of Abraham goes well for defendant

Monday, March 22, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

It was touted as the "trial of a millennium."

But it wasn't the famed basketball star Kobe Bryant, nor the King of Pop Michael Jackson, nor the domestic goddess Martha Stewart who was on trial.

It was Abraham of Ur, the revered patriarch of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith, and he was being tried for the attempted murder of his son, Isaac.

Temple Beth Sholom, the oldest Jewish congregation in Las Vegas, hosted a People v. Abraham mock trial Sunday morning at its Summerlin temple to help stir interest in the Torah, the five books of Moses that make up part of the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

"The text has shaped the very deep foundation of our faith and our theology, and as Jews we are commanded by God to understand the inner workings of the Torah," Rabbi Felipe Goodman of Temple Beth Sholom said.

"Once in a while we have to question the actual events to renew our faith," Goodman said.

About 650 attended the the mock trial, which featured Judge Joseph Wapner, formerly of television's "People's Court" as the judge, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman as Abraham's defense attorney and District Judge Michael Cherry as the prosecutor. The audience served as the jury.

Both sides provided the audience with laughs as they used both Hebrew and Yiddish words and their own props into their arguments for Abraham's acquittal or conviction.

Cherry, for example, incorporated a bobblehead doll of Goodman to show that the Bible's teachings -- in this case the commandment against false idols -- were not always followed. Goodman, on the other hand, wrapped a short rope halfway around his waist to show that "if the rope doesn't fit, you must acquit."

But both attorneys also took a serious look at the story of Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Isaac. The passage about it, in Genesis 22, is one of the most debated and controversial scriptures in all three monotheistic faiths.

According to Jewish and Christian Scripture, God allegedly tests Abraham by commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son. The faithful patriarch obediently follows God's command and is about to slaughter Isaac when an angel of God stays his hand. The angel provides a ram in Isaac's place.

Christians view the story as a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross, that, as Abraham tells Isaac, God will "provide the lamb." In the Quran the story is a dream sequence and the son involved is Ishmael, Abraham's first son through the maidservant Hagar. But in all three faiths the point is ultimately the same -- Abraham's complete obedience and love for God.

Many scholars in all three monotheistic faiths see the story as "what you shouldn't do" as much as what to do, Rabbi Goodman said.

"You should listen to the word of God very carefully," Rabbi Goodman said. "But you should never, ever be so blinded by God that you hurt someone."

Many scholars believe that by staying Abraham's hand, God was setting this new faith apart from the other religious cults of the time who regularly practiced human sacrifice. Later, when the law is handed down by Moses, the practice of human sacrifice is forbidden.

Cherry argued that Abraham willfully set out to kill his son and would have followed through with the murder if not for the angel's intervention. He further argued that Abraham was a "nomad, a bit of a gypsy, who constantly claims to hear voices of God and is known to do rash things."

"If you read these facts in the newspaper today, what would your verdict be?" Cherry said. "Guilty -- because you know it is wrong to kill."

Abraham's excuse that he was acting in faith should not get him off the hook, Cherry said.

"His excuse is 'God made me do it,' " Cherry said. "And it's not going to fly. Faith does not excuse or condone the evil that Abraham did."

Goodman, however, banked on the faith of the jury in arguing for Abraham's acquittal.

Abraham had a long-standing, direct relationship with God, and Abraham knew God would do the "Godly thing" when he asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the mayor said.

He said he easily could have argued that Abraham was delusional, or that he was coerced into sacrificing Isaac by God, or that he abandoned the sacrifice and therefore was innocent on a technicality. But the "only thing that makes sense for those of us who believe in God" is that Abraham was acting out of faith.

"That is what religion is all about," the mayor said. "Faith is not a technicality, but you love God and know what he does is right no matter what the circumstances,' Goodman said.

In the end, faith won out the jury voted 295-120 for Abraham's acquittal, former Sen. Richard Bryan, the jury foreman said.

Wapner said after the trial that he was rooting for a conviction, saying that under today's law, Abraham was guilty of attempted murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The people who voted not guilty voted on religious principles -- they voted with their hearts rather than their heads," Wapner said.