A Jewish Public Theology by Abraham Unger

Author:Abraham Unger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2012-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Halakhic Government: Small and Nimble

Neither Torah nor Talmud lay out in constitutional fashion the structure and rules of government. There has also never been a dialogue of any kind within the Rabbinic tradition about the size or role of government in the way that this debate has historically taken place in the contemporary West. The polar positions of small government in the libertarian sense on one extreme, contradicted towards the other end of the continuum by an expansive national government with a Keynesian social and activist economic role, culminating in Marxism, does not exist in classical Judaism.

Unlike the liberal state established on the social contract between persons, in which the idea of G-d has no relationship to the government’s legitimacy, the Jewish state is a theocracy. This is the case notwithstanding even the ongoing human contribution of the Rabbis as the actual day-to-day mediators of policy for the Halakhic community. The Jewish state when governed by the Law is under Divine oversight. The Sinaitic covenant was not between people, but between the nation of Israel and G-d, and weighted towards the will of G-d rather than human autonomy.

This perspective may seem dogmatic upon first reading. But, the way the Jewish tradition took it was just the opposite. It means that, as in economic and fiscal policy, there is complete freedom to make up a government as needed, without care for ideological fixation on one or another political ideology. Humans must simply follow the Halakhah as recipients of revelation. Any tzibbur, or communal quorum operating within a Halakhic framework, may organize themselves as they wish so long as the Law is fulfilled in terms of its civil and ritualistic components. There is no credo of either a large government filled with expansive regulatory agencies, nor a tiny government that retreats from public service delivery. Within classical Judaism these are not charged philosophical positions. The instrument of government is a utilitarian one intended solely to fulfill Divine writ. It may shrink and grow as necessity arises within the context of the Halakhic purpose at hand.

When Solomon was building the First Temple, revenue collection agencies were set up throughout the Israelite territories and a strong central government was established (1 Kings, 4–5). This was due both to a personal royal vanity in which Solomon was particularly extravagant in building this cultic center, combined with the actual historic mandate to construct a dwelling place for the Divine during the period of the Temple’s sacrificial rite. However, the establishment of these regional “commissioners” and their agencies (1 Kings, 4:7) did not remain part and parcel of Jewish political tradition. Their role eroded once the Temple was built.

The one continuous form of Jewish government without question, and one which has been historically extant regardless of Israel’s sovereignty or exile, has been the Court. Though Judaism concedes a monarch, the royal executive is bound by the rule of law and the decisions of the Court. He is appointed by the High Court of his time (Maimonides, Hilkhot

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