Q&A: How Far Should the State Stick Its Nose In?
How Far Should the State Stick Its Nose In?
Question
Someone argued that since there is a halakhic prohibition against marrying a non-Jew, it is therefore the state’s job to determine exactly who is halakhically Jewish, all the way down to the end, so that we do not stumble into a halakhic prohibition. Even though the result may be stricter rulings based on extreme opinions, that is still the role of a state.
I saw in the Shulchan Arukh that it is forbidden to marry epileptics or members of families with epilepsy.
Should it be the state’s job to determine exactly who is halakhically considered epileptic, so that we do not stumble into a halakhic prohibition, even though the result may be stricter rulings based on extreme opinions, since that is supposedly the role of the state?
Another alternative is that each person should clarify it for himself, ask his rabbi who exactly is Jewish enough, and to what extent someone is fully considered epileptic or from a family of epileptics, and that this is not the state’s role.
Answer
Clearly that is neither its role nor within its authority. Certainly not a secular democratic state like ours.