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Seminars
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313* 9 • a§.
When Force
Isn't Coercion
SHLOMO RISKIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I
s Judaism a religion of
coercion? And if this is
the case, then the fear of
the "secular" sector in
Israel as to the system of
government under a re-
ligious majority is justified.
I would maintain that, es-
pecially in the realm of those
ritual commandments bet-
ween the human being and
God, religious coercion must
be seen as a contradiction in
terms. Indeed, the very term
"covenant (brit)" which
defines the unique relation-
ship between Israel and the
Almighty connotes contract,
agreement, mutual consent.
And even the much
discussed "Ten Command-
ments" is basically a
mistranslation of the
original Rabbinic term
Asseret haDibrot, which lit-
erally means the "Ten
Words," Dibbur suggests
speech, dialogue —which
once again evokes mutuali-
ty. Moreover, the Revelation
at Sinai of which we read in
this week's Torah portion is
not eternalized into a
written and oral covenant
with our nation until the
people voluntarily accept
God's word with their
declaration. "We shall do
and we shall obey."
But how can we square a
biblical system of com-
mandment and punishment
with our theological exposi-
tion of freedom of choice?
A case which will shed
much light on this issue may
be seen in Maimonides'
Laws of Divorce, Ch. 2,
Halachah 20: "Someone
whom the law demands that
he be forced to give his wife a
bill of divorcement, a get (for
example, if he is impotent, or
if he is a tanner, causing his
body to exude a foul odor,
and his wife says that she
can't Jive with him) is forced
to divorce her. If he doesn't
want to divorce her, a Jew-
ish court, any place and
anytime, must beat him un-
til he says "I want to divorce
her," and he then gives her a
get and the get is kosher.
But isn't this coercion?
Doesn't Jewish law require
that a get be given from one's
own volition? How can a
court beat one until he says
"I desire it?"
Maimonides continues,
Rabbi Riskin is chief rabbi
of Efrat.
clarifying his guiding prin-
ciple: "We don't consider
anyone to be compelled
unless he's forced to do
something which the Torah
does not obligate him to do
. . . But someone whose evil
desire encourages him to
nullify a commandment or
commit a transgression can
be beaten until he does what
he is obligated to do, or until
he stops doing what he is
forbidden to do.
"And this is not considered
coercion, because it's as if
his own evil instinct com-
pelled him to go against the
Torah. Therefore, although
(seemingly) this individual
may not want to divorce his
wife, since he does with to be
a member of the Jewish peo-
ple, and he does desire to
keep the commandments
and keep away from trans-
gressions, except that (in
this instance) his evil in-
stinct overpowered him, we
therefore beat him until his
Shabbat Yitro:
Exodus 18:1-20:23
Isaiah 6:1-7:6,
9:5-6.
evil instinct becomes
weakened. And he then says,
"I want to give her a
divorce."
Rav Avraham Yitzhak
haKohen Kook, Israel's
legendary first Chief Rabbi,
explains this ruling by in-
voking the mystical (and
psychological) view of two
wills within the human per-
sonality, the higher will and
the lower will.
According to Rav Kook,
the higher will of the Jew
always wants to do a mitzvot.
Therefore, if the Halachah
requires that an individual
grant his wife a divorce, the
court can impose a beating
because it is making it
possible for him to follow his
higher will, which he really
wants to do anyhow.
However, the i mplication of
this idea is still problematic
since it suggests the pater-
nalistic notion that someone
else can determine for an in-
dividual what he really
wants to do.
The Ohr Sameach, Rabbi
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, in
his commentary to