Timeless Torah

Is there a Jewish theory on government? Should a democratically elected Knesset have to listen to Rabbis? What if the issue is Synagogues to be destroyed in Gaza? Perhaps Rabbis should be consulted about houses of worship, but ignored when the topic is Movie Theatres open on Shabbat? What do you think? What does the Torah think?
Today’s Biblical reading addresses the topic of government, and asks the question, how should the nation be ruled? Before we consider the Torah’s answer three background propositions should be born in mind.
The first is that biblical Israel did not represent a “religion” in the sense that word conveys today. Religion as practiced currently is a way of life one practices in private, at home or in a house of worship. It has little bearing on the public domain; government, the economy, and the way we order our collective life.
The Torah has a different view. Religion is meant to impact every aspect of society. Torah thus contains legislation on criminal and civil law, agriculture, employer/employee relations, and so on.
Second, Torah’s politics are radical. Israel’s sovereign was not a human being but G-d. This was so revolutionary that Josephus had to invent a new word, theocracy, to describe it. Today the word has negative connotations. It suggests clerics running totalitarian regimes with little individual freedom. But this is not what the Torah envisioned. Jewish theocracy is not rule by priests. What it means is that all power within the state (including the Rabbis) operates within limits set by the overarching sovereignty of G-d.
Third, the very fact that Israel entered into its covenant with G-d long before it entered the land tells us that politics is secondary, not primary. It is a means, not an end. Thus the worship of any political system is a form of idolatry, most vividly enacted in the twentieth century as Fascism and Communism.
Judaism is more interested in society (as the arena in which specific ideals are realized: justice, compassion, the rule of law combined with respect for the sanctity of life) than state. The Torah’s unique attempt to create a nation governed not by the pursuit of power, but by recognizing the worth of each person created in the image of G-d is why our Biblical section describes three types of leader; the king, the priest and the prophet.
One: Jewish monarchy had serious limitations. The king could not multiply wives, horses, or gold. He had to study the Torah constantly and never transgress it (this is the birth of constitutional monarchy: a king not above the law). Two: An independent priesthood who served in the Temple. Three: A prophet who did not work for, and therefore was unafraid to chastise, the king (unlike contemporary Israeli Chief Rabbis who are government employees).
Why three institutions? So there should be a separation of powers. In other words, liberty does not flourish because men have natural rights, but because power is so distributed that whoever is tempted to abuse it finds that political restraints stand in his way.
This idea is implicit in this threefold structure. The king led the people in battle, levied taxes, and was responsible for civic order. The priest offered sacrifices and ensured that holiness was at the heart of national life. The prophet brought the word of G-d to the people and the cause of the people to G-d. Put another way: the priest brought the Jew to G-d, the prophet brought G-d to the Jew, while the king brought the state closer to both.
The Bible gives us several glimpses of this structure at work. When King David appoints Solomon as his successor he says, “Set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gichon. There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’” From here we see that the decision made by the king (David) must be ratified by the priest (Zadok) and the prophet (Nathan) before it becomes valid.
Accordingly, major national decisions such as an optional war or an extension of the boundaries of Jerusalem required the assent of all three powers. Indeed the Mishnah describes each of these three powers as crowns. “There are three crowns: the crown of Torah (prophecy), the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship.”
This indispensable division explains the Sages’ critique of the Hasmonean king who breached this separation of powers, “O King Yannai, let the royal crown be sufficient for you; leave the priestly crown to Aaron’s descendants.”
Since the aim of the Torah is to create a specific society, it wrestled with problems of politics and governance. Thus, while all political bodies were understood to be necessary (“Pray for the welfare of the government,” said Rabbi Hanina, “for without it men would eat one another alive,”) it was, as the prophetic literature so eloquently testifies, fraught with dangers of corruption. Torah therefore designed different roles of authority to ensure that not all powers are concentrated in a single person or institution. Hence the tripartite structure set out in Shoftim.
Two millennia ago Jewish ideals about government were a practical part of our political landscape. Once again, with the emergence of the State of Israel we have an opportunity to fuse temporal politicking with eternal Torah values. Are there any topics off limits, too taboo, or too secular for the Rabbis to weigh in on? Ultimately, everything about our lives is open for discussion, because Judaism just doesn’t talk about life, Judaism is life.