Q&A: Lex Specialis
Lex Specialis
Question
If morality existed in the world before the Torah was given, why shouldn’t we always set moral values aside in favor of Torah values? After all, the Holy One, blessed be He, knew that there is an obligation to morality, and nevertheless gave the Torah with commandments that contradict it.
And perhaps we should prefer the commandments over morality on the grounds of lex specialis? Because otherwise the commandments that clash with morality would be nullified: slaves, the beautiful captive woman, killing a non-Jewish woman who was raped by a Jew, wiping out Amalek, the four death penalties of the religious court, and so on.
Answer
I have discussed this at length in several places. I’ll repeat it briefly.
In an essential conflict—that is, in a situation where observing Jewish law always and inherently contradicts morality (such as killing an Amalekite infant, separating a priest’s wife who was raped from her husband, the law of a mamzer)—Jewish law indeed takes precedence. Perhaps with the exception of very extreme cases of a transgression for the sake of Heaven. But when the conflict is incidental, that is not necessarily so. In such cases, lex specialis cuts both ways.