In the time of Moshiach, the Jewish Supreme Court will overshadow all courts from earlier times. Judges will be fully aware of the needs of the people they represent – and their need is the long-awaited redemption.
By Rabbi Boruch Merkur
Surprisingly, the Rebbe celebrates the supremacy of the people over the court of Jewish law, and he told this to the then Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.[1]
A major theme of that meeting of minds is the strength of community, acknowledging and empowering its every member, irrespective of erudition in Torah. When it comes to rabbinic decrees, the Jewish community overrules the governing Jewish authority, the beis din.
It is not an act of rebellion, but recognizing the people’s inability to accept a rabbinic decree and having it annulled is termed the people’s “victory”:
The precedence of the Jewish people over Torah is apparent in the fact that when a beis din decrees and it becomes Torah law, yet afterward it is determined that it was not accepted by all Jews, the decree is annulled. Thus, the congregation’s majority is victorious over the beis din![2]
The power of a Jewish community to overturn the decrees of rabbis is in virtue of a Jew’s inherent superiority over Torah.
Fascinatingly, the preeminence of the people emerges from the power of the beis din itself over Torah, as the Rebbe tells Rabbi Eliyahu:
It is within the power of a beis din to do the opposite of the Torah as a temporary, exceptional directive. An example is Eliyahu at Mount Carmel, who offered a sacrifice outside the Temple Mount in order to oppose the false prophets of the idol Baal … This emphasizes the baalus, the rule and authority, of the Jewish people over Torah. It is within their power to do the opposite of Torah, so long as it is strictly a temporary exception, for the Torah is eternal. At that moment, however, the Jew is ruler of the Torah, without any limitations.[3]
For exceptional circumstance, rabbis have the power to temporarily suspend even Biblical Torah laws.
That power itself, however, is in virtue of the Jewish people’s authority and dominion over the beis din. Thus, the beis din’s authority reflects the will and consent of the people they represent. Sensitivity to the plight of the ever-changing needs of the Jewish community establishes the beis din’s credentials.
A rabbinic decree is only accepted when a majority of the Jewish community honors it, but the beis din itself is governed by its own internal majority. After debate and deliberation, the beis din rules in favor of the majority opinion within its ranks.
But whose ranks exactly?
Authority is time sensitive. In the era of redemption, a new beis din will rule, overshadowing all previous schools of thought, all foregoing courts of law and their majority rule:
Torah rulings are subject to change according to the majority opinion … In the Era of Moshiach, rulings will follow the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the time, as it is written, “to the judge who will be in those days” - “you are only accountable to the court of your generation.”[4] And if the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the Era of Moshiach differs from the opinion of the majority of the Supreme Court of preceding generations, the law follows the majority opinion of the court of the Era of Moshiach.[5]
And what is the mission statement of this long-awaited beis din that is sensitive to the entire Jewish people (including the unobservant[6])? To rule that - and thereby crystalize - the true and complete redemption, all for the sake of the people they represent:
May it be the Divine will that very soon G-d Almighty will consider the resolve of the congregation, who cannot tolerate the decree of exile. Surely G-d will reciprocate, as this is a Torah ruling. That is, the rabbis rule that “all of the predicted dates for the end of the exile have passed,” and the time of the true and complete redemption has already arrived.
Then the promise will be fulfilled, “I will return your judges as in former times” … They will explore and determine all aspects that remain in doubt, and their rulings will immediately be received.[7]
The beis din of the future will be fully aware of the needs of the people they represent – and their need is redemption, geula. In fact, the Rebbe demands that of rabbanim even now: “There is no need to wait until we come to Eretz Yisroel.”[8]
Today’s Torah authorities are meant to be on the frontline of the final war of exile, blazing the path of victory by ruling that the time for redemption has arrived. In Chabad, that is the litmus test for true rabbinic authority as we march to the redemption with the Rebbe shlita!
NOTES:
[1] October 14, 1991.
[2] Seifer HaSichos 5752 pg. 455
[3] Ibid pg. 450
[4] Rambam Hilchos Mamrim, Ch. 2, beg.
[5] Ibid 456
[6] See the lengthy discussion of Sota and the relative stringency of wearing a head covering (for men) – Ibid 451 and 455
[7] Ibid 455
[8] Ibid 461