[Avodah] What would a Torah government look like

[Shmuel Weidberg]

On Jan 25, 2008 4:40 AM, Eli Turkel <eliturkel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Upon screaming they answer that according to halacha a promise to do
> some action is not enforcable and no kinyan was done.

It has long bothered me that commercial transactions that are required
for everyday life are theoretically unenforceable.

But that is only in theory. For example somebody who commits himself
to a transaction and doesn't go through with it, Is required to submit
to the curse of Mi Shepara. And it is the rare person who would
undergo so such an ordeal, both because of the embarrassment and
because of his fear of the results of the curse.

Likewise, R' Moshe has a teshuva about requiring a heter iska for a
non-observant jew, and he says that one should write into the contract
that if he claims that he lost the money fairly he should have to
swear to that fact while holding a sefer torah in the middle of shul
in front of the congregation. He says that it is unlikely that even
the biggest apikores would do that to get out of paying what he's due.

In a similar vein. I know somebody who deals in currency exchange and
gives quotes over the phone with a verbal contract that is
unenforceable, and he says that he hasn't had more than one or two
people renege on their verbal contracts.

Regards,
Shmuel