Q&A: Attitude Toward Secular Law
Attitude Toward Secular Law
Question
Rabbi, what is Jewish law’s attitude toward secular law? I saw that the Talmud in Bava Kamma, which discusses a person who testifies alone in a gentile court against his fellow Jew, says that he is excommunicated because he causes money to be extracted on the basis of a single witness. So what happens today when money is extracted not according to Torah law, or simply through the testimony of relatives or a woman (assuming she is disqualified from testimony today)? What is our attitude toward this law? Does it have any value at all? Is it binding on us? And if so, is that only because of “the law of the kingdom is law”? Is it permitted to testify alone in court? Is it permissible for a religious person to serve as such a judge?
Thank you very much
Answer
There is no problem because of “the law of the kingdom is law” and because they accepted it upon themselves. Especially when there is no effective Torah-law system, there is no choice but to make use of the Israeli legal system.
See my article 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%A2%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A9/
As for Torah law, it is also worth looking at the article by Nadav Shnerb, “The Jewish Cabinet of Lies” (search for it online).