Beware Selective Application of the Law: A Torah Thought for Parashat Emor by Moshe Feiglin

One law will be for you, for the foreigner as the citizen shall it be as I am Hashem, your God. (From this week’s Torah portion, Emor, Leviticus 24:22)

Selective implementation of the law for differing sectors of the population emasculates the law and turns it into the foundation of evil.

A small-time criminal perpetrates his crime against the law.

A medium criminal circumvents the law.

But a major leauge criminal perpetrates his crime by means of the law.

And this is exactly how he does it – by means of selective implementation. Actually, the real power is not in the hands of the judges but rather, in the hands of those who decide whom to put on trial.

Nobody dares to propose the destruction of homes in the middle of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The homes of ‘settlers’, however, are destroyed with no hesitation because there are laws in Israel – but they do not equally apply to all.

Selective implementation of the law prevails when the end of the Torah verse, “I am Hashem your God”, is forgotten.

Shabbat Shalom,

Moshe Feiglin