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Face to faith
"The New Sanhedrin's approach to public issues is rooted in Jewish traditions, says Mordechai Beck
The word Sanhedrin may trigger negative associations for those brought up to recall the legislative body that handed over Jesus to his Roman executioners. Yet in Jewish tradition the Sanhedrin was one of the triumphs of ancient Judaism. The legal processes it dealt with became the foundation stone of Jewish jurisprudence. Its reputation for delving into the most complex issues in order to find for an accused person was legendary. The Talmud says that a Sanhedrin that sentenced someone to death once in 70 years was considered a bloody Sanhedrin.
The historical Sanhedrin survived the destruction of the Second Temple in 70CE, moving north into the Galilee and later to Tiberius, where it flourished for four centuries before disappearing, though not before bequeathing the Jerusalem Talmud, a major compendium of laws and lore that is studied still today. The idea of an authoritative religious body independent of political bias appeals to a community that yearns to follow God's law. So it was perhaps not surprising that in 2004 a body of 71 rabbis calling itself the New Sanhedrin set itself up in Tiberius with the purpose of applying what it considers normative rabbinic law in the context of a modern state.
That such a body would flourish in the democratic state of Israel might seem an oddity, even risible. But among its hand-picked members are leading Zionist Orthodox teachers, academics and rabbis. Together they have proposed a number of innovations, among them a plan to improve the teaching of the Bible in schools; a committee to base relations with non-Jews on the Seven Noahide Laws - considered as categorical imperatives for all peoples; and changes to certain laws pertaining to Jews in the diaspora. Ideologically connected to groups preparing for the rebuilding of the Third Temple and the reinstitution of the priesthood, the New Sanhedrin has also produced a 1,500-page memorandum on issues relating to these goals.
The most radical move, however, was to appoint as its president Rabbi Adin Shteinsaltz, considered by many to be the leading rabbinic scholar of his age. Even so, his more modest approach has already clashed with the more aggressive agenda expressed by some of his extreme rightwing associates….”
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