By Rabbi Dr Michael Schulman
Partial fulfillment of the commandment for Laws and Courts is an important accomplishment
Even if most of the Gentiles in a country do not abide by the Noahide Commandments as Divine precepts, it’s usual that they observe the basic obligations of some of those commandments based on their own morality and logic. Then their legal system is considered for them as a partial fulfillment of their commandment of Dinim – the obligation to establish laws and courts. This applies if they abide by the prohibitions of theft and murder, and judge transgressors in an upright manner by establishing courts to sentence transgressors. They must judge cases of theft, murder, bodily injury and the like, and decide in monetary cases.
In our time, the courts in such societies usually sentence violators of the Noahide Commandments only to confinement in jail or other punishments. Such courts are nevertheless keeping the society from reverting to chaos. The main principle and purpose of the commandment of Dinim is to establish a settled society that protects its citizens from being wronged by one another.
Unfortunately, there are many misinformed critics of the Noahide movement. Therefore, it’s important to know this response – that there is no obligation or permission for Noahides to set up their own Noahide Courts if they are a minority in a country. This certainly applies if it is a generally just society.
But what about Noahides who have the opportunity to participate in their society’s secular legal system? Is that allowed? An observant Noahide who has the ability and knowledge to judge is permitted and has a duty to become a judge for a non-Noahide Gentile court. This is in order to establish law and order in the society as much as possible. It applies even if (due to the circumstances in his country) he is unable to administer justice by the guidelines of the Noahide Code. Likewise, an observant Noahide who is able to give testimony on a certain matter, or has reason for a lawsuit against another person, must go to the secular courts and testify or bring the case before them. Why? It’s because those judges are bringing a degree of righteousness and morality to the society.
But if it is clear that the justice system of the country is corrupt, it is forbidden for a person to participate in such judgments, either as a judge, witness, or litigant.
By Rabbi Dr. Michael Schulman, Executive Director of Ask Noah International
Second Part Delivered as a talk at the 4th International Noahide Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 5779 / 20’19 [1] the original article can be found here.
Brought by Rabbi Moshe Perets
Rabbi Moshe Perets is the President of the Noahide Academy of Israel, Founder and Executive Director of NoahideAcademy.org, the world’s largest Noahide informational website. He accomplished his Rabbinical Studies at the Chabad Yeshiva and his medical studies at the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further according to the NoahideAcademy.org's copyright policy.