Q&A: Does Jewish law really override morality in practice?
Does Jewish law really override morality in practice?
Question
I know the Rabbi has spoken a lot about the relationship between Jewish law and morality. Bottom line: in conflicts where Jewish law explicitly instructs something against morality, it would take precedence (from what I understood). But I want to speak practically: would the Rabbi agree that a person should be executed for Sabbath desecration? For male homosexual intercourse? Or for any law that completely contradicts our conscience-based morality, assuming we don’t have some interpretive explanation that saves us from having to do that? I really can’t grasp it. These are the kinds of things that always cause me real revulsion, and I know that’s not really an argument, just sharing the frustration I feel and the fact that I don’t see any way out of it.
The argument that “the Jewish people are not there yet (on the spiritual level), and we don’t have a Sanhedrin, etc.” seems very problematic to me. It does not seem likely to me that a stage will come when the entire Jewish people will understand that it is moral to act this way and accept these things upon themselves. That sounds completely absurd, and I think the Rabbi would agree with me about how plausible that forecast is. If so, then saying that maybe Jewish law would override morality is just a theoretical statement that probably will have no meaning, even in the future… Maybe what is needed is a fundamental change in Jewish law? One that does not clash head-on with morality?
Thank you very much
Answer
This is a discussion empty of content. In order to decide, one has to live in that situation. I have written more than once that there is no point discussing what would happen in a situation that is not familiar to us through direct experience.
In a state of affairs where it is clear to everyone that the punishment for Sabbath desecration is death, and that person who transgressed knows that he is a transgressor and also accepts the yoke of Torah, and there are two witnesses and prior warning and acknowledgment of the warning—then why not? And still, if we were to live in that situation and feel that it was not appropriate, it would not happen. And certainly, if that person is under compulsion mentally or under compulsion for some other reason, he is not liable to punishment. Therefore all your shock is simply a misunderstanding.