Why don't Jews follow mosaic law with respect to stoning?

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While I know that only the moral law part of the Old Testament ( ten commandments, for example) applies to christians, it still supposedly applies in full to Jews. How is it that Jews, who claim to be bound by Mosaic Law, don’t stone people for adultery? For the record, I am NOT in favor of stoning anybody for adultery and consider the expiration of Mosaic Law among the best things Jesus ever did for us. But why don’t Jews, who are proud of keeping the Law of Moses, apply it in full?
 
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According to this Jewish Historical sit, they just didn’t want to: (myjewishlearning.com)
I’m also calling @meltzerboy to weigh in, as he will know the answer:

The Death Penalty in the Torah
The Torah imposes a penalty of death for a range of misdeeds. These include ritual infractions, such as violating the Sabbath, worshiping idols and cursing God; sexual sins, including incest, adultery, anal sex between men and bestiality; and various criminal acts, including murder, kidnapping and giving false testimony in a capital case. In one particularly challenging biblical passage (Deuteronomy 18-21), the Torah imposes a penalty of death by stoning in the case of a “wayward son” who does not heed his parents’ discipline. (The Talmud states that there never actually was a wayward son nor will there ever be one and that the Torah mentions it merely so it should be studied.) Stoning is the most common method of execution described in the Torah, prescribed not only in the case of the rebellious child, but also for murder, blasphemy, breaking the Sabbath and idolatry. The Torah specifies that a person may be put to death only on the testimony of two witnesses — never by one alone — and that the witnesses who testified must be the first to lay their hands on the accused to kill him. Death by fire is mandated for a number of sexual sins, mainly various forms of incest.

The Death Penalty in the Talmud
The rabbis of the Talmud discussed the legal requirements of capital punishment at great length, establishing significant barriers that made such a sentence extremely difficult to carry out. According to the Mishnah, capital cases had to be decided by a Sanhedrin of 23 judges. If the conviction in a capital case was unanimous, the accused was acquitted. Perhaps most onerous of all, the offense had to be witnessed by two people who warned the perpetrator immediately prior to committing the act that it was a capital offense. Such stringencies are often understood to account for the famous Mishnah passage that states that if a Sanhedrin executed one person in seven years, it was considered destructive. Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah objects that the standard is actually once in 70 years, and Rabbis Tarfon and Akiva say that had they served on the court, no one would have ever been executed.

However, some scholars, such as Rabbi Louis Jacobs in The Jewish Religion: A Companion, have noted that the power of Jewish courts to impose a death sentence was ended by the Romans sometime in the first century of the Common Era, and as a result the Talmudic discussions of the matter, including their imposition of stringent rules of evidence in capital cases, should be understood as purely theoretical — not as practical guidance for how such cases should actually be adjudicated. Jacobs also pointed to passages in the Talmud and elsewhere that permit extrajudicial execution in certain circumstances as evidence that Jewish law is not as uncomfortable with the death penalty as is sometimes said to be the case.
 
That’s a pretty harsh way of saying they were trying not to kill others.
I would recommend a book on what the Jews believe and WHY.
Or read that website.
 
Of course it’s a good thing that they did not want to kill others. But they claim to be followers of Moses and that the Law of Moses is great and should be followed, but of course it’s easy to say that while at the same time ignoring the parts they find uncomfortable. It’s good to not kill others, but then don’t claim your law, which does indeed prescribe killing others, is the model for humanity. Indeed I believe Jesus himself called them out for ignoring their laws with the excuse of following some “oral Torah”
 
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Interesting topic. Excellent answer from @pianistclare. I appreciate it and learned from it.

Just hope you’re not now trying to take it in a whole new direction to criticize the religion of our “elder brothers.”
 
What you call weaseling, rabbinical scholars would call interpretation of the Law. The Law (Torah) is complex and often the text is not plain-speaking and must be taken in the context of other verses, even other Books, and the culture of the times. However, if you want plain-speaking text, the Torah itself (as pianistclare cites) explicitly states that two eyewitnesses must be available before the death penalty can be carried out, among several other requirements, including knowledge of the wrongfulness of the act on the part of the accused as well as eyewitnesses who themselves are reliable. So you see, the Torah from the beginning makes carrying out the death penalty a measure of last resort difficult to do, and certainly not something to be taken frivolously. The Talmud (Oral Law), which devout Jews believe carries similar weight as the Torah (Written Law), merely interprets and elaborates upon the restrictions which are already imposed in the Torah. It does not–and cannot–contradict the Written Law.
 
I’m just trying to understand. If they claim Judaism is the true religion and the Law of Moses is the true law humanity should follow, how is it they don’t follow it to the fullest? I’m only making a point, I love Jews, they’ve made Israel one fantastic place to live in and visit (which I did in 2013) and have won many Nobel prizes. So it’s nothing personal, just intellectual discussion.
 
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So you’re saying practicing Jews, if those requirements were fulfilled, would support stoning for adultery today?
 
Not exactly. Another important requirement is the judgment of the Sanhedrin, which no longer exists. Thus, the death penalty is something rare and virtually nonexistent today according to Jewish Law as well as Israeli State Law, which imposes it only for war crimes involving genocide.
 
I think one thing to keep in mind, is that people often want to apply BC sensibilities and norms to today.
The Bible and the Jewish Torah are beautiful and wonderful sources that help us (who are not Jewish) try to understand and comprehend what life was like then.
It’s always to be read in context, through the lens of the cultural and religious norms of the day.
 
Yes of course I, as a non-Jew, agree. But Jews say the Law of Moses has to be followed, and if god gave them that law, should it not be applied always and in its entirety, regardless of context?
 
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Some Orthodox Jews believe the Sanhedrin will be re-established during the era of the Messiah. It cannot be formed before that time. For all practical purposes in the foreseeable future, the death penalty is virtually null and void.
 
Yes but who says they need a Sanhedrin? Does The law of Moses state they need one to follow God’s prescriptions?
 
Curious11 said:
While I know that only the moral law part of the Old Testament ( ten commandments, for example) applies to christians, it still supposedly applies in full to Jews. How is it that Jews, who claim to be bound by Mosaic Law, don’t stone people for adultery? For the record, I am NOT in favor of stoning anybody for adultery and consider the expiration of Mosaic Law among the best things Jesus ever did for us. But why don’t Jews, who are proud of keeping the Law of Moses, apply it in full?
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I read some where that a few parts of the Bible actually list discipline instead of doctrine & dogma. This is one of them. Another place in the New Testament where discipline was discussed instead of doctrine or dogma was in regards to head coverings for women.

The Church (and the Jewish rabbis) determine what scripture is doctrine & dogma vs discipline.

God Bless
 
The Law itself must be interpreted according to context. That is where the rabbinical commentaries in the Talmud come in: that is, how to properly apply the law to ever-changing environmental settings. In this sense, the spirit of the Law is maintained, which, as Jesus correctly recognized, captures the essence of the Law far better than following its precepts when the context does not permit one to do so appropriately. Certain elements cannot be literally followed because the institutional practices that permit its execution are no longer existent; however, its intentions can still be practiced.
 
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