[Avodah] Rav Moshe Feinstein on America

[Elli Fischer via Avodah]

On Fri, Sep 1, 2017 at 5:45 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
> I should point out that there is indication that the late second BHMQ
> Sanhedrin apparently agreed. What was the self-exile from the Lishkas
> haGazis about? Rashi (Sanhedrin 41 "ela dinei nefashos") says that it's
> because they couldn't keep up with the demand for death penalties.

That's how I read the question of the Sanhedrin's self-imposed exile, but I
don't think that it was only that they couldn't keep up with the demand.
"Mi-sherabu ha-rotzchim" means that society itself did not value life, and
so a Sanhedrin that enforces the Torah by taking life actually reinforces a
negative trait that had been absorbed by society at large. The Torah's
justice system envisions a society where the death penalty means something.
Once society has deteriorated to the point where most members don't uphold
the Torah's basic value system, the Sanhedrin becomes counter-productive,
and they recognized this.

The implications for today are self-evident.

As to RMF, he addresses the Hasmonean kingdom in this very drasha (I didn't
mention or translate it for the sake of brevity). He worked with Chinuch
Atzmai, and his positions on questions like abortion and end-of-life
impacted Israeli public policy, he was well aware that the early State of
Israel was ideology-driven, and the critique he applies here would
presumably apply to Israel as well. It is not very different from the
general Ashkenazi Haredi critique of the state and the belief that the
Zionists actively fought against religious practice.

-- 
Rabbi Elli Fischer
Translation/Editing/Writing/Heritage Travel Consulting
fischer.tirgum at gmail.com
Twitter: @adderabbi