Not Subject to the Political Winds

The Supreme Court of the United States is a revered institution that has shaped American life and living. It has issued some landmark rulings that have improved the social ethos. It is also true that the Supreme Court has issued some horrific rulings. Korematsu v. The United States ruled it was legal and constitutional to forcibly place a minority group in internment camps. Buck vs. Bell in 1927 ruled that the government can forcibly sterilize women who it considered “feeble-minded and imbeciles.” The venerated Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for the majority, “three generations of imbeciles are enough” in justifying this position. Perhaps the worst decision issued by the Supreme Court was Dred Scott v. Sanford, which led to the Civil War. After Dred Scott, an enslaved man, sued for his freedom in 1846, he went from the slave state of Missouri to the free states of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was not free, African Americans were not U.S. citizens and therefore couldn't sue in federal court, and Congress couldn't prohibit slavery in U.S. territories. Ultimately, this decision was overturned with the adoption of the 13th Amendment in the aftermath of the Civil War. ​ The Torah or Jewish Law does have an answer to the Dred Scott case, and it is found in this week's parsha. The Torah states, לֹא־תַסְגִּיר עֶבֶד אֶל־אֲדֹנָיו אֲשֶׁר־יִנָּצֵל אֵלֶיךָ מֵעִם אֲדֹנָיו. Translation: “You shall not turn over to the owner a servant who seeks refuge with you from that master.” Rashi quotes the Talmud, which explains this passage as referring to the situation of a Canaanite servant belonging to an Israelite who fled from outside the Land (from a foreign country) into the Land of Israel. Had Dred Scott fled into the Land of Israel to escape his predicament of slavery, he would have been granted asylum. The consequences of the Dred Scott decision led to approximately 700,000 Americans killed in the Civil War. ​ The larger point is that this case study challenges an established theory (which some treat as fact) in enlightened circles. It is that the Torah and its laws and practices are archaic and obsolete. The timeless lessons of the Torah are not subject to the harsh winds of political change. The wisdom taught at Sinai is as relevant and enriching as ever. ​ Have a Peaceful Shabbos, ​ Rabbi Yaakov Fisch