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From
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/as8gb55" eudora="autourl">
http://tinyurl.com/as8gb55<br><br>
</a><font size=3>Writing in the 5761 (2001) issue of the journal
Techumin, Rabbi Yehuda Zoldan addressed a question that confronted the
increasing number of Orthodox Jews who had entered the Israeli Foreign
Service: Were there any ways in which some of the halakhic strictures
normally imposed on those having contacts with non-Jews could be
mitigated in the interests of service to the State? Since the article’s
appearance, the issue has become a salient one for American Orthodox Jews
as well. Practicing Jews can now be found in the uppermost levels of the
U.S. Government, including the national security departmentsState,
Defense, Treasuryas well as the National Security Council and the
Intelligence Community, not to mention Senator Joseph Lieberman, whose
tenure included membership in both the Armed Services and Homeland
Security Committees, serving as chairman of the latter.<br><br>
For many, if not all of these Jewish national security officials,
questions arise beyond those confronting their Israeli counterparts, for
whom allowances are made by foreign countries precisely because they are
not citizens of those countries. To what extent does halakha permit a
Jewish official to sidestep normative rabbinic law and tradition? Is
there any latitude with respect to biblical laws (d’Oraita)? <br><br>
See the above URL for more. YL</font></body>
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