Q&A: Religious coercion on the grounds that all Israel are responsible for one another
Religious coercion on the grounds that all Israel are responsible for one another
Question
In the yeshiva where I studied, the rabbi told us that it’s important to vote for a religious party, because only that way secular people won’t be able to drive on the Sabbath, and they won’t bring in groups like Tzohar, which in his Haredi view are not really kosher, and as a result ordinary householders will eat non-kosher food, and secular people won’t be able to have civil marriages, and so on and so on. He justified this by saying that we are obligated to prevent secular people from doing such things on the grounds that all Israel are responsible for one another. From a halakhic / ethical standpoint, is he right?
Answer
Is this trolling, or do you really not know me at all?
This is not a question for Tisha B’Av—not because of Torah study, but because it’s not appropriate to joke on this day.
The most important thing is דווקא not to vote for religious and Haredi parties (at least the existing ones), for at least two reasons: 1. The only connection they have to Judaism is the desecration of God’s name that they carry out day after day. 2. They produce idiots like him who will be rabbis teaching in yeshivot and pass their stupidity on to the younger generation.
Discussion on Answer
Well, it’s clear that you really don’t know me. There is indeed a law of mutual responsibility toward Jews, and there is also an obligation of coercion unrelated to mutual responsibility. But there is no point at all in coercing someone who does not believe, and even someone who does believe—if the coercion will only do harm.
Beyond that, even if there were a point in coercion, voting for the religious and Haredi parties is itself aiding wrongdoing and strengthening the hands of the wicked. So in any case it is forbidden.
So what does the rule that all Israel are responsible for one another actually include? Meaning, for what kinds of things is there halakhic responsibility toward other Jews, if any? Or because they don’t believe, is there no such religious responsibility here?