[Avodah] John Locke and Tzedaqa

[t613k at aol.com]

From: Michael Makovi _mikewinddale at gmail.com_ 
(mailto:mikewinddale at gmail.com) 

>>  The following question has occurred to me, and while I doubt any prior
Jewish  authorities ever thought about this issue, it still seems valid
to me. After  all, a sevara is d'oraita.

If you carefully read things like John Locke,  Cato's Letters [etc]
one constantly recurring principle is that the
government has only  those powers which the people grant it. ...
 


Now, I cannot go to my neighbor's house and take his money to feed  the
poor. Therefore, I cannot grant the government that power  either...


.... I'm sure that everything I've said so far is  utterly
foreign to the Tanakh, Gemara, Rambam, etc....
Nevertheless, the  Tanakh tells us that the PEOPLE choose a king.
.... And as I said, a  sevara is d'oraita. Everything I've said so
far, sounds perfectly logical on  paper.....



.....So my question is: given that we know that historically, the  Jewish
communities would assess tzedaqa like a tax, how could they do  this?

Michael Makovi

 
 
>>>>>
 
I'm guessing that they could do it because, in your case, a sevara is not a 
 de'oraisa after all.
 
You seem to think that if, in your own eyes, your logic is impeccable --  
then your logic has the full status of a de'oraisa.  But I'm guessing that  
your logic is peccable. 
 
For example -- who says that a government is "only a people's proxy"?   
Cato, Locke, Thomas Jefferson?   Are they Torah authorities?   Maybe a Torah 
government is G-d's proxy?
 

--Toby  Katz
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