Why Orthodox Judaism is a Cult - Part 5

Rex Lex
Lately, I have been watching videos of Asher Meza explaining what he calls Rambamism, and his discussions as to why the Shulchan Aruch by Joseph Karo and not the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides is the normative book on Jewish Law.

Before I get into the discussion, let's get up to speed on the idea of rule of law and the distinction between Lex Rex and Rex Lex.

Rule of Law
One of the gifts brought to us by the Enlightenment is the idea that the king does not have the divine right to rule his nation as an absolute autocrat. Instead, true justice requires that the law applies equally to everyone. This is Rule of Law, or Lex Rex (the Law is the king). This is different than an autocracy, where the rulers can decide people's fate based on arbitrary stipulation (Rex Lex, or the King is the law).

Many nations are run by Rule of Law in theory but not in practice. The Soviet Union flooded the nation with so many laws that it became impossible for anyone to know how to keep them all. In fact, most people would commit multiple felonies per day without realizing it, just going about their daily lives.

The other half of the Soviet procedure was constant surveillance of all people at all times. The government kept meticulous details on what everyone was doing. Privacy was only between the people, not between the people and the state.

This combination of an overwhelming number of laws and constant surveillance meant that government officials could arbitrarily enforce the laws on anyone they wanted. If someone honked off a government official, that official could simply look through the person's records until that official inevitably found a series of felonies, and then press charges against the poor individual.

This practice undermined Rule of Law by making everyone a criminal, and then enforcing criminal law at the arbitrary pleasure of the people at the top. Ayn Rand mentions this repeatedly in Atlas Shrugged.

“Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.”

The Talmud is Like the X-Files
In theory, Rabbinic Judaism is supposed to be based on Rule of Law. The rabbis are just as bound to the mitzvot as everyone else. In one sense, this is true. The Law is supposed to be absolute and laid down from Sinai. It is clear and covers all matters and all people equally.

In practice, this is anything but the case. Halacha (Rabbinic Jewish Law) is derived from the Pentateuch, the Mishnah, and then the Talmud which records discussions surrounding the Mishnah. The plain meaning of the Bible is often quite contrary to the Halacha, so ordinary Jews cannot simply look in their Bibles to get a ruling on practical matters.

They also cannot simply go to the Mishnah or the Talmud for their rulings. The Mishnah is written in a vague legal shorthand, and the Talmud is written in a dialect of Aramaic, filled with obscure legal terminology, and loads of conflicting commentary. Much of the task of a yeshiva is to teach Talmudic students how to figure out what the discussions in the Talmud were even about. It takes years of focused study just to reach this level, and the discussions in the Talmud often end like an X-Files episode -- with no resolution.

Solving the Confusion
Joseph Karo attempted to resolve this difficulty by creating the Shulchan Aruch (set table). The Shulchan Aruch is supposed to give definitive rulings on practical legal matters, but it was also written in an obscure legal-eze and required a great deal of commentary, often with conflicting opinions, to figure out what is meant by the assertions of the Shulchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch does not cover the whole of Jewish Law, so there are areas where Halacha has to be drawn from sources other than the Shulchan Aruch.

Moses Maimonides wanted to put an end to this confusion as well, and tried to do so long before Karo was ever born. Maimonides wanted his people to stop having to grind through Talmudic learning, just to discover the Halacha. His life's work was the Mishneh Torah, which stated in the plainest language possible, what the rulings were for all practical matters. Instead of having to ask a local orthodox rabbi, any Jew could simply grab a copy of the Mishneh Torah and find out for himself what the Halacha was. The Halacha, under this system, would be absolute. There would not be different, conflicting rulings for different groups of Jews (Askenazic, Sephardic, Mizrachi), each of which is legally obligated to follow a different minhag (a minhag is a local custom which one is legally obligated to follow). There would be one absolute way the law holds.

The Rabbis Do Not Share Power
There was one problem: the rabbis liked it when the people where dependent upon them to decide what the law says. They didn't want the people to be able to look up the law in a textbook. The rabbis are extremely powerful because they have so much leeway in how to enforce the law, just as the Soviet Union officials had in interpreting and enforcing their own law.

Halacha is filled with areas where the law brings down conflicting considerations, and it is up to the rabbi to decide which considerations trump which other considerations. The issue of Kol Ishah (voice of a woman) is one consideration. Under Kol Ishah, a man is not allowed to hear a woman singing. Is one allowed to watch a video of a woman singing, such as watching Barbara Streisand sing HaTikvah to Gola Meir? On some opinions, Kol Ishah only applies to live performances, and so music videos and television are perfectly valid. On others, one cannot even watch a televised performance.

Imagine if you are an Orthodox rabbi and a congregant asks you whether he can watch the movie Yentl with Barbara Streisand. As an Orthodox rabbi, you can give your ruling based on any of these opinions, meaning that the question as to whether he can or cannot, is entirely up to your arbitrary decision-making power. What's even worse is that you can give different rulings to different congregants.  Since different congregants have different needs, you can give different rulings under that pretense, even if the real reason is otherwise. Let's say that you like Reuven because he gives generously but not Shimon because he does not. You can tell Reuven that he is allowed to watch Yentl but tell Shimon that he does not.

This applies to other areas, such as non-observant Jews. Technically, Jews who do not keep the Sabbath according to Orthodox Jewish Law are to be considered ineligible for Jewish privileges such as being counted in a minyan, being allowed to touch non-cooked wine, or to be given an aliyah. However, outreach synagogues such as those affiliated with Aish Hatorah, often give these privileges to people who drive to the synagoge on the Sabbath in total violation of Orthodox Jewish Law.

The reason they can do this is because someone considered a child raised in captivity is not considered responsible for his or her actions. Those not raised Orthodox are in some sense, children of captivity. It is up to the rabbis to decide whether this exemption should take effect, and it is up to their arbitrary decision. And once they make a decision, you are not allowed to go to another rabbi for a second opinion.

In fact, you can take it one step farther. I personally met a rabbi who discovered my belief in Jesus. At first, his ruling was that I was a child of captivity and could have all privileges. After learning my affiliation with certain Christian apologetics groups, he reversed his decision, and this was all in the span of a week. How can anyone think that these rulings aren't arbitrary?

It's understandable why the rabbis do not simply follow the Mishneh Torah. It undermines their power. The Talmud Bavli describes the rabbis as kings, and Rabbi Akiva said "You should fear the LORD your God, but even more, the students of wise men." A student of a yeshiva is to honor his rabbi more than his father.

Do you like lording yourself over other people? Does the taste of power give you an insatiable thirst for more? Do you love micromanaging the lives of others? Do you want to make your followers dance for you like puppets on strings, placing all their decisions before your arbitrary whim? Then maybe a career as an Orthodox rabbi is the career for you!