[Avodah] dina demalchuta

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Lisa Liel wrote:

> Zev is saying that it's not in a bucket. It's simply a recognition
> that their dinim *are* dinim.  Not that we're necessarily bound by
> them.
>
> Here's a nafka mina.  If I break US law while not otherwise
> violating halakha, by Zev's reasoning, the halakha has no problem
> with what I did. But if the US government puts me in jail for it,
> it's legitimate on their part.  The halakha recognizes the
> legitimacy of their actions.
>
> I was once a camp counselor, and I had some issues with some of
> the inane rules that had been dictated between the time I was a
> camper and the time I returned as a counselor.  I told my campers
> that I had no problem with them violating those particular rules,
> but that if they got caught, they were on their own.  This seems
> to me a parallel situation. 

I have heard a similar concept. Namely, that DDD does *not* automatically apply to all of the government's laws. I recall once reading something written by Rav Yissochor Frand of Ner Yisrael, who gave an example of speeding laws. He said that when one drives, there is a range of speeds, slightly over the speed limit, where one is technically in violation of the law, but such violations are routinely ignored by the police. He said that DDD only recognizes the law as enforced by the police, not as officially written in the books.

Unfortunately, I cannot find where he said that. But I did find something very similar from Rav Yisroel Belsky, at http://www.torah.org/learning/honesty/class12.html

Rav Belsky wrote:

> Is it permissible to jaywalk and to walk against a red light even
> though it is technically illegal?
>
> Some people claim that dina d'malchusa dina (the law of the land),
> applies even to these issues. I think it all depends. When the
> streets are empty and there is no traffic -- for cars it is
> considered a major offense to go through red lights even then.
> But for pedestrians, I don't think the government is that
> concerned. But when there's a lot of traffic, and people still
> walk in the street, and it makes your heart skip to see cars
> dodging the people, then it's a terrible thing to do.

Akiva Miller

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