Q&A: Someone Holding Public Office
Someone Holding Public Office
Question
Suppose there is a religious mayor who is committed to Jewish law.
And there is a decision about public transportation on the Sabbath, and he approves and allows public transportation on the Sabbath because that is his state-oriented outlook.
Is he thereby violating Jewish law? Or in other words: does the mayor need to ask his rabbi what Jewish law says? Is there even a simple halakhic ruling on this issue?
Answer
I think it is definitely appropriate to ask. Even figuring out whether this is a halakhic question is itself a halakhic issue. But regarding the matter itself, in my opinion it is not correct to discuss it through the narrow halakhic prism. That is, there is no clear answer here on the halakhic level. In my view, a mayor is supposed to conduct himself as the mayor of everyone and allow everything, and each person will decide whether he is desecrating the Sabbath or not.