Q&A: Following “A Philosophical Look at the Contemporary Disputes”
Following “A Philosophical Look at the Contemporary Disputes”
Question
Hello and blessings to the Rabbi, may he live long and well!
I listened on YouTube to your lecture at Cafe Loda on the above topic, and I also read the recent columns you wrote about it, and I thought to draw your attention to a responsum of Rabbi Kook that seems to me related to the subject.
I should note that although I am fairly sure you know the responsum, and perhaps even thought of it in connection with what you wrote, still I said to myself that just to be on the safe side I would bring it up.
This is in Rabbi Kook’s book Orach Mishpat, Laws of Judges, section 2 (I came across the responsum בעקבות a YouTube video by Rabbi Uri Sherki, may he live long and well, “The Rosh’s responsa on ‘Follow the majority’”).
In sum, Rabbi Kook argues that each of the groups within the public has the status of a partner, and therefore it is not applicable to say that its share is nullified by the majority. And if there is a segment of the public that has no representation in the public leadership, then it will not be possible to come to it with complaints if it separates itself from the public.
As I understand it, that is the current situation in Israeli society. There is a public that has no representation in the government, and as things look now (the relative growth in the number of the religious / nationalist right from year to year), it also will not have any in the future, and therefore it is frustrated and is breaking the rules of the game.
True, my wife argues that it does have representation in the Knesset, but in my humble opinion today there is such coalition discipline that it causes the Knesset to have almost no real significance; the government is what mainly matters. (If I remember correctly, in the past it was more common to give Knesset members freedom to vote, but today everyone has to fall in line with the coalition agreements.)
If I understand correctly, Rabbi Kook is referring in his remarks to the general public as a whole, and not specifically to halakhic matters or disputes between communities that observe the commandments.
With wishes for a good new month, and thank you very much 🙂
Answer
It seems very unlikely to me to say that a group that has representatives in the Knesset counts as unrepresented just because it is in the minority. If so, elections and majority rule would have no meaning. The minority would always break the rules because it has no representation in the majority (the government).