The day that Donald Dillbeck was executed, FADP delivered over 70 signed letters from Faith Leaders across the country urging the Governor and Board of Executive Clemency to stay his execution. Even though the execution did proceed, we sent a clear message that people across diverse faiths and traditions believe in redemption and the dignity of all human beings. We must continue to lift these voices in these dark days, and so I am asking our faith leaders to please sign our letter for Louis Gaskin.
Cantor Michael Zoosman, an ordained Jewish clergyperson, former Jewish prison chaplain, co-founder of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, and an advisory board member for Death Penalty Action, is one of those very voices we must lift up. Cantor Zoosman is a penpal and friend to Louis, and so today I wanted to share with you Cantor Zoosman’s powerful words:
Our pen pal Louis Gaskin is scheduled for execution in Florida on April 12, the seventh day of our sacred holiday of Passover, when we read about how Pharaoh’s heart was repeatedly hardened. I had the opportunity to speak with Louis on the phone last week. Without prompting, Louis told me, “I have G-d in my heart.”
Imagine if the Governors signing warrants and overseeing executions modeled their hearts more after that of the person Louis Gaskin has become, rather than after the hardened heart of Pharaoh from our Exodus saga.
Louis has written to us as he now sits on Death Watch awaiting his Passover execution. He wrote that he feels like a “pyramid in the sun with no shade, crumbling just a little bit with the passing of another birthday, but still a magnificent creation of G-d’s love in me.”
If this nightmarish reality unfolding in Florida bothers you, we humbly ask that you, as our fellow faith leaders, consider joining our friends at Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty to help save Louis Gaskin and others in line for execution.
– Cantor Michael Zoosman
And so we ask all of our faith leaders across the country – please consider Cantor Zoosman’s plea: Take a moment to sign this letter urging Governor DeSantis and the Florida Board of Executive Clemency to stay soften their hearts, and to stay the execution of Louis Gaskin.
Onward,
Maria DeLiberato
FADP Executive Director
PS: Please sign the petition to stay the execution of Louis Gaskin.