Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: The Law of the Land is the Law --- But the Ordinances... Not So Much

There is a well known dictum in Jewish law -- דינא דמלכותא דינא/the law of the land is the law. According to Shmuel this is a Torah directive; but everyone agrees that at the very least, דינא דמלכותא דינא. There are two important caveats, though:

  1. It cannot be a law that contradicts halacha. (Yes, I know that is a bit circular, since I just said that  דינא דמלכותא דינא is halacha. Don't make me come over there and slap you; you know what I mean.)
  2. It has to make sense; not something arbitrary, like eating fish on Friday.

The implications are enormous -- it means that if the land has a rule that makes sense and is not otherwise covered by halacha (there; happy?), then violating that law becomes a violation of halacha; perhaps even a Torah violation. For example: the law of the land (in the US) is that you much drive on the right hand side of the road. Another one: while driving a motor vehicle, you must stop before the intersection when the signal is red, and you may not proceed through the intersection until the light turns green. If you violate those laws, besides risking a hefty fine, besides risking having your license suspended or revoked, besides risking jail time... you are also risking violating a Torah prohibition. Wow.

What about speeding when there is very little traffic in good weather? What about a right turn on red at 4:35 AM on your way to vasikin? What about walking across the street at 4:46 AM when it is freezing cold and light is red/in the middle of the street? What about that, eh? On the one hand, the streets and sidewalks are a public resource, the construction and maintenance of which is funded by our tax dollars as apportioned by our duly elected and appointed government officials -- the land has every right to make "rules of the road"; and we all explicitly or implicitly accept them. On the other hand... does anyone really care if I cross against a red light at 4:46 AM to vasikin?

Clearly those rules do not contradict halacha and they make sense. Doesn't that mean that דינא דמלכותא דינא kicks in; and He is always watching and always cares. It is forbidden to wear shatnez whether or not anyone is looking or cares. Halacha is halacha.

So I posed this question to R' Dovid Siegel, shlita. I asked this way: "From what I know about דינא דמלכותא דינא, it would seem to me that crossing the street against a red light and exceeding the speed limit at any time of day should be halachically forbidden, yet I see many talmidei chachamim doing just that. What am I missing?"

R' Siegel, shlita, answered in classic form: The rule is דינא דמלכותא דינא, not הוראה דמלכותא הוראה. Meaning, as I clarified in further discussion: Because of what we said about roads above and because of the potential for danger, the land requires a license to be allowed to operate a motor vehicle on the public roads. Anything that could involve losing that license is דין. Something, on the other hand, that could only result in a fine is הוראה. I am intentionally being a bit vague and using my only examples... and practical application would require discussion with one's rav, obviously. But the principle is clear. In fact, I remembered then once having a conversation with a police officer about speeding: When there is bad driving conditions, a person can get a ticket -- and even risk losing his license and even jail time -- even if he is driving well withing the speed limit. Not a speeding ticket, but a reckless driving ticket. The speed limit is usually הוראה, but when the driver is potentially endangering people and property, he slips into reckless driving territory -- that's דין. 

Once your actions cross that line to violating דין, they also cross that line to violating halacha.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Pizza, Uncrustables, and Stuff -- What Bracha?

Many years ago (in fact, more than two decades ago), I called R' Fuerst from my desk at work as I sat down to lunch.  I had a piece of (quite delicious) homemade pizza for lunch.  I nearly always eat at my desk as I am working (or writing TftD...), so my lunch at work cannot in any way be considered as sitting down to a formal meal; aka קביעת סעודה.  That being the case, I wasn't sure whether to wash, say ha'motzi, and bentch; or was the pizza downgraded to a m'zonos.  He told if it was a snack, then it's m'zonos; if a meal the ha'motzi.  Which what I have always done since then.  I recently found out how/why that works. The Shulchan Aruch, 168:17 discusses פשטיד''א, which is describes as a baked dough with meat or fish or cheese.  In other words: pizza.  Note: while the dough doesn't not need to be baked together with the meat/fish/cheese, it is  required that they dough was baked with the intention of making this concoction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: What Category of Muktzeh are Our Candles?

As discussed in a recent TftD , a p'sak halacha quite surprising to many, that one may -- even לכתחילה -- decorate a birthday cake with (unlit, obviously) birthday candles on Shabbos. That p'sak is predicated on another p'sak halacha; namely, that our candles are muktzeh because they are a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not  מוקצה מחמת גופו/intrinsically set aside from any use on Shabbos. They point there was that using the candle as a decoration qualifies as a need that allows one to utilize a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור. Today we will discuss the issue of concluding that our candles are , in fact, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not מוקצה מחמת גופו. Along the way we'll also (again) how important it is to have personal relationship with your rav/posek, the importance of precision in vocabulary, and how to interpret the Mishna Brura.  Buckle up. After reviewing siman 308 and the Mishna Brura there, I concluded that it should be permissible to use birthday candles to decorate a cake on Sha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: אוושא מילתא Debases Yours Shabbos

My granddaughter came home with a list the girls and phone numbers in her first grade class.  It was cute because they had made it an arts and crafts project by pasting the list to piece of construction paper cut out to look like an old desk phone and a receiver attached by a pipe cleaner.  I realized, though, that the cuteness was entirely lost on her.  She, of course, has never seen a desk phone with a receiver.  When they pretend to talk on the phone, it is on any relatively flat, rectangular object they find.  (In fact, her 18 month old brother turns every  relatively flat, rectangular object into a phone and walks around babbling into it.  Not much different than the rest of us, except his train of thought is not interrupted by someone else babbling into his ear.) I was reminded of that when my chavrusa (who has children my grandchildrens age) and I were learning about אוושא מילתא.  It came up because of a quote from the Shulchan Aru...
Post a Comment
Read more