Q&A: Two Questions.
Two Questions.
Question
Greetings to our master, may he live long.
1. Are people who are exempt from the commandments, such as a blind person, also exempt from prohibitions and from commandments between one person and another?
2. How does the Rabbi relate to the refugee issue? It seems that aside from the fact that the refugees are not really refugees and cause disorder, etc., people simply would not want too many foreigners in the country. But if a group facing destruction in its own land seeks refuge in our country, should we grant it, or set quotas and the like?
Answer
For some reason, I’m sorry to say I didn’t notice these questions.
- Regarding prohibitions, this is a dispute. From the medieval authorities it appears that he is completely exempt, but Tosafot and others wrote that he is obligated rabbinically. From this, several later authorities (such as Rabbi Akiva Eiger) inferred that he is obligated in prohibitions, since the rabbinic obligation is grounded in “do not deviate”. (Though this can be rejected, especially according to Nachmanides’ view in his glosses to the first root, that the obligation in rabbinic commandments is not derived from “do not deviate.”) See, for example, a discussion here: http://www.torahbase.org/%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91-%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%90-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%95%D7%AA/ Regarding obligations between one person and another: insofar as this is a commandment, he is exempt at the Torah level and obligated rabbinically. But like any gentile and any human being, he is obligated in every duty that follows from reason, even if there is no explicit command about it. See at length in my article on reason-based obligations here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%A1%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%9F-%D7%94%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%99/
- Definitely, to the extent that we can. But we are not obligated to solve all the world’s problems. I don’t have a clear line for how many we are required to take in. I think this is not a halakhic determination but rather a matter of international law (that is at least the bottom line).
Discussion on Answer
I wrote, “especially according to Nachmanides’ view,” and I meant precisely to exclude the Rashi you referred to, since there you can see that a minor may be rabbinically obligated even though he is certainly exempt from prohibitions as well.
According to Maimonides’ view on “do not deviate,” can Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s inference be rejected? I also just thought about a minor’s obligation in commandments, where there is a dispute between Rashi and Tosafot whether the minor is rabbinically obligated or whether his father is obligated to educate him.