What is the relationship between us and a sinner? We may be disgusted by perversity or evil, but should we hate the sinner?
The Gemara on amud aleph says that we must choose a form of capital punishment that minimizes the suffering, paradoxically quoting the directive to love thy neighbor.
This paradox regarding loving the sinner is beautifully expressed by the Rambam in Laws of the Murderer and Preservation of Life (13:14)
The enemy mentioned in the Torah whom we must assist with his burden (Exodus 23:5) is of Jewish origin, and not a foreign enemy. If one finds him overwhelmed with his load, one must help him load or unload and not leave him there to die. He may possibly stay on because of his property and be exposed to danger, and the Torah insists on saving Jewish lives, whether they are wicked or upright, since they are attached to the Lord and believe in the principles of religion, as it is written: "Tell them: By my life, says the Lord God, I have no desire for the death of the wicked man, but for him to live by giving up his evil course" (Ezekiel 33:11).
Rav Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953), the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote the following in his Sefer Hegyonei Uzziel (23:1)
The love of friends, which is mainly the love of man, does not differentiate between righteous and evil. One is obligated to love them in equal measure. Indeed, we are obligated to show love even for a wicked person condemned to the death, as we see in Pesachim 75a. The capital punishment does not come from the hatred of the sinful man, but from the obligation to destroy evil, especially the kind that incites others to commit evil.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation 
Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)