Anon asked Staff ago I was a Charedi in the Boro Park (Brooklyn) community, and I want to raise an issue which might open the eyes of secular Israelis to the danger represented by the Charedi. In the frightening scenario of a future in which Charedi run the country, what punishment would they see as appropriate for a person like you? You only have to go to the media on this site to see what threats await you. I have few doubts that their response to “apostasy,” particularly from a person like you who is certainly more dangerous than the average non-believer, would be no different from what is done to “dangerous” apostates in Saudi Arabia and in Iran. They will act in total contradiction to modern values of the right to free expression and speech, for these rights have no place when you hold truth in your hand and someone spreads words of heresy. The central idea of freedom of expression is to protect people from those who hold power and authority and who believe they hold the exclusive truth, for in their view they (in contrast to Saudi Arabia and to Iran) honestly and truly possess the truth.
Yaakov
jsadmin Staff answered 19 years ago
Dear Yaakov,
A well-known (particularly amongst arbiters) Halachik ruling states that in our days the sages have the power to punish even without the authority of the Torah’s laws, based only upon what the rabbis and sages see as appropriate. This is what is written in the Talmud:
“The rabbinical court may impose flagellation and pronounce sentences even where not warranted by the Torah; yet not with the intention of disregarding the Torah but in order to safeguard it. It once happened that a man rode a horse on the Sabbath in the Greek period and he was brought before the court and stoned, not because he was liable but because it was required by the times. Again it happened that a man once had intercourse with his wife under a fig tree. He was brought before the rabbinical court and flogged, not because he merited it, but because the times required it” (Sanhedrin 46a). Not only in the Talmudic era, but even in the Middle Ages they practiced this. “The rabbinical court is permitted to fine licentiousness, to create a fence. There was an incident of a woman who had intercourse with an idolater. They cut off her nose to make her disgusting” (Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer 177:5).
Another thing you must remember: you must not draw conclusions from the actions of the religious today and what the situation would be were they in power (as we cannot draw conclusions about any individual; those with experience will say that power corrupts).
Since they have the legal framework to kill and punish as they see fit, to increase the fear of heaven, and there is no question that when they have the power to do so, they will, in the name of heaven and to sanctify the kingdom of G-d throughout the world.
Did you really know the villainous conduct of the Charedi public — how they act when their honor and dignity is impinged upon — your fingers would not have typed these words.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet