[Avodah] public policy

[Eli Turkel]

<<I reiterate every posek takes into
consideration meta-halakhic issues such as za'ar, hefsed merubah, etc.  In
any individual case this is there. However, in a public shiur or in public
policy this may be downplayed to set the ground rules of what the pure
halakha demands.>>

My experience is the opposite. Public policy is definitely not what
pure halakha demands.
Perhaps a famous case is the CI insistence not to use Israeli (Jewish)
electricity on shabbat. He admits the problem is not one of halakha
but of public policy and chillul hashem.

Similarly the attack of several gedolim against Tzomet and its use of
modern technology to avoid halachic problems especially for hospitals,
military and incapacitated. They made quite clear that there objections
were not so much pure halakha but rather public policy.

Similarly much of the objections to autopsies is based on public policy
rather than halakha which is more flexible

kol tuv

-- 
Eli Turkel