Jewish Law vs. Civil Law

What happens when the civil law contradicts with the Jewish law? Which law takes precedence?


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Notes for Mentors:

  • It is important to point out that keeping Jewish law in a land that has other laws can be an issue.
  • Discuss if anyone had even heard of campaigns against Bris Milah.
  • Freedom of religion may be a good time to discuss how people have given up their livelihood for Shabbos, and that anti discrimination laws for such instances are relatively recent.
  • Application is a discussion of real life scenarios and a good place to discuss “What would you do?”
  • Capital punishment, it is important to bring out that there is a big difference between how Jewish law and civil law treat life and death, and on which can we base our decisions on.
  • The final question brings out that these rules were first instituted when the Jewish people left Israel, and has been our way of survival with no country of our own for thousands of years.