Q&A: The Request for a King in Ran
The Request for a King in Ran
Question
According to your view of law/judgment (that there is no need to bring in elements from Jewish law, etc.), I didn’t understand what was wrong with the Israelites’ request for a king. After all, Ran explains in his homilies that the problem was that they wanted only general law and not halakhic law. And according to what you said (which you brought from Ritva), what is wrong with that?
Answer
Simply put, the problem was that they wanted a king like all the nations, not the very demand for a king itself. That is a commandment from the Torah. And the disputes about this are ancient.
Discussion on Answer
What is the meaning of this strange comment? If I like quoting someone, does that mean I have to accept every word he writes?!
(Aside from that, it really is very bad to want only general law.)
So in short, you don’t agree with Ran, whom you so love to quote.