Q&A: Coercion in Commandments
Coercion in Commandments
Question
Dear Rabbi, hello,
I read the Rabbi’s article on Tzohar about a secular Zionist such as the Rabbi of Ponevezh, and about the fact that the people are not the same as the religious public, and therefore it is impossible to impose the commandments on the public through legislation. Today, since half the people are Bibi supporters, Haredi, and religious, and want a traditional state, does the Rabbi think there is room to enforce the commandments through legislation on the other half?
Answer
No. A. Because there is no justification for coercing the minority either. B. Because Bibi’s supporters are not necessarily religious.
Discussion on Answer
No. But one has to distinguish between secular people and religious people. Simply speaking, regarding religious people there is, even today, a law of coercion, unless we apply here the principle of “it just isn’t fitting.” But regarding secular people, there is agreement among all halakhic decisors that there is no law of coercion, because there is no one who knows how to rebuke properly, and they are like children taken captive, etc.
Does the Rabbi have an article explaining why nowadays there is no law of coercing people to perform commandments? In the Tzohar article, the Rabbi didn’t get into the halakhic issue.