[Avodah] Halakhos of a US Governor

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, April 10, 2008 5:06 am, Simon Montagu wrote:
: On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:25 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
: wrote:
:> When greeting the Queen of England, one does not say "shechalaq
:> mikevodo levasar vedam" besheim umalkhus because her majesty doesn't
:> make life-and-death decisions over her subjects.

: Really? I don't know about constitutional monarchs in other countries,
: but the metziut in the UK is that the sovereign personifies the
state --
: for example criminal cases are listed as Rex/Regina v. P'loni -- and
: even today when capital punishment has been abolished the state does
: make life/death decisions over its subjects in some circumstances. Are
: there shu"tim that address the specific case of the sovereign of the
UK?

I am recalling a shiur given on the topic by my LOR back when R' Prof
Yisrael Auman won the nobel prize and would be dining at a meal
attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

So, no I'm not sure. Particularly since the metzi'us of the various
countries' monarchies was not the point that interested me.


However, despite what the case is called, if the queen couldn't get
away with dropping the case, or declare war on her own decision, I
don't see how one can make a berakhah recognizing Hashem's allowing
people to play god. (And that is a pretty accurate rendition of
"chalaq mikevodo", if it's defined in terms of authority to make
life-and-death decisions.)


SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
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