Forget about the “shariazation” of America; make way for the “halachization” of the U.S. legal system (“Jewish orgs on either side of Hobby Lobby case,” WJW, March 20).
The point man in this bumptious enterprise is legal eagle Nathan Lewin, on behalf of the Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs and aided and abetted by groups such as Agudath Israel, the Rabbinic Council of America and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
Lewin boasts how his brief in Sibelius v. Hobby Lobby, Inc., is “original in its intent to bring a strictly Orthodox perspective on the issue, as opposed to interpreting precedent.” In this, he straight-out challenges “the government’s theory that there should be a distinction between whether you run a business individually and whether you run it as a corporation.”
What Lewin conveniently omits is that Halacha (Orthodox Jewish law) recognizes only partnerships, not corporations.
Lewin further observes that “there have been very, very few briefs in the Supreme Court that have cited Jewish halachic authorities.”
Indeed, for very good reason. For example, Halacha does not recognize bankruptcy. As a matter of principled Orthodox consistency, will Lewin now argue for the elimination of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 as legal options? The Debt Collection Agency lobby would certainly be in favor.
Leave it to Nat Lewin to try to put the “Jew” into American JUrisprudence!
ISSACHAR FRIEDMANN
Baltimore
