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Moral act

שו”תCategory: HalachaMoral act
asked 6 years ago

Hello. And a good signature
I study in a Hasidic synagogue where it says at the entrance, “Please observe the teachings of our rabbis and sit with a suit during study.” The thing is that more than half of the people sitting there are blabbering about the scripture and sitting without a suit. The question is, am I still obligated to this law from a moral perspective? I have seen that you have explained that morality is binding even though my individual actions have no effect. But does morality also oblige me to act according to the law even when the individual sees that the majority no longer obey the law? The other question is, let’s say I make it a point to wear a suit, because my group doesn’t have a suit at all (Mizrahi). My question is, am I considered a failure and should we look for another place to study? Or is there no need to be so strict? Thanks in advance.


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מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago
This sounds excessive righteousness to me. The validity of such rules of procedure is determined by the social attitude towards them. The same goes for state law. There is a maximum speed limit on a certain road and no one abides by it. Everyone drives (to a reasonable extent) above this speed limit. I do not see this as a flaw, even though there is an obligation to obey the law. These are not halakhic laws that are at least generally accepted to be treated as binding rules in their entirety (and this too should be discussed). After all, even dangerous rules such as smoking, the poskim wrote, are not binding if the public does not practice observing them (they rely on God protecting the innocent, but in my opinion this is not meant in the literal sense, as if there is a guarantee that God will preserve your health).

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