Page 32 - HaMizrachi #29 Yom HaAtzmaut 2021 USA

HOLIDAY READING ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE

Rabbi Rami Brachyahu

Applying Halacha

in Israel’s Police Force

he Police is the most important blocking their exit from the parking The Head of the Camera Department
security organization in Israel, lot. As a local Rabbi, if such a ques- explained to me that the filming itself
Teven more than the IDF. If the tion came to me, I would give him (or the fact that people know about it)
entire police force took a week’s vaca- my vehicle. But it is impossible to run often prevents violence – both by civil-
tion, the country would collapse, even a country like that. Halacha cannot ians and by police –- and they also make
without an external enemy. afford not to answer such a problem. a crucial contribution to gather evidence
In the Torah, there is no commandment On one hand, it is clear the police must of disorder and the like.
to establish an army. The mitzvah is to work on Shabbat, but on the other, we In general, whenever we can lower the
appoint םי ִ ר ְ ט ֹׁש ְ ו םי ִ ט ְ פ ֹׁש, judges and police- cannot issue a comprehensive heter severity of a ban from deOrayta to deR-
men. Not soldiers,or firefighters or even (permit) for all police work on Shabbat, abbanan, we try to do so. We want to
doctors. Why is this? Not only because irrespective of what that work is. make a police career attractive to obser-
internal security is a prerequisite for a For example, is it a clear operational vant Jews too and for religious people
normal society, but also because of the need for an investigative team follow- to feel comfortable going to police sta-
tendency to underestimate it. Without ing members of a criminal organization, tions to submit complaints or calls for
people responsible for public order, gathering evidence to convict them, help on Shabbat. I am pleased to say the
bribery, corruption and violence will to continue to do so on Shabbat? Yes, Police are developing halachically-based
simply erode the foundations of society. because daily surveillance is key here, tools to accommodate the religious
I am often asked: can an observant Jew and the aim is to curtail crime as soon population.
serve in the Police? as possible. Sabbath observance is of course not the
Imagine a religious patrol officer receiv- What about public corruption cases? only issue that raises halachic questions
ing a call on Friday night from someone They often take months, if not years. in the Police. For example, undercover
complaining that a neighbor is playing In such cases there is no great urgency operatives sometimes have to sit in
his music too loudly. How does this that demands work on Shabbat. You can Arab restaurants, where they serve
relate to pikuach nefesh, the only reason stop on Friday and continue on Sunday. non-kosher food. One of them came to
one can break Shabbat? In my position as Rabbi of the Israeli me, expressing his dilemma in such a
situation. I asked him if he could say he
The officer might talk to his command- Police, I have to be deeply familiar with was a vegetarian, but he told me that
ers and ask them to exempt him from the myriad departments and assign- declaring yourself a vegetarian in an
shifts on Shabbat, or to transfer him to ments in order to give a halachic answer. Arab restaurant is something that can
assignments touching upon pikuach I must understand what is clearly and arouse suspicion. So I told him: “Your
nefesh – but this is not a systemic urgently operational and what is not; safety is the highest priority here. If
solution. what is societal pikuach nefesh and what there is the slightest doubt, there is no
is not. Halachic sensitivity (in the Police doubt, and your eating there is part of
It is important to realize that the Police as much as anywhere else too) is needed the mitzvah you are involved in in pro-
bear broad responsibility for the wellbe- to understand different roles, different tecting the country and its citizens.”
ing of the country’s citizens. Much of its situations and different people.
mission is to establish law and order, a
new category hardly discussed in hala- Ever-evolving technology also sparks
chic discourse. a slew of new halachic questions. The
classic example is body cameras. Police-
Suppose one receives a call on Shabbat men and women sometimes have a
from someone who needs to drive his camera attached to their shirts. Is this Rabbi Rami Brachyahu is the the Chief Rabbi
wife to hospital and reports a vehicle type of camera allowed on Shabbat? of the Israel Police.

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