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Correspondence

1976

Letter from Abraham Guterman about Halachic Parallels to the Patty Hearst Case (1976)

Jewish Law & Secular Law
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Letter from David Greenbaum about Article on the Fifth Amendment and Halacha (1956)

Dear Norman: I read your article ”The Fifth Amendment And Its Equivalent In The Halakhah”, appearing in the recent issue of ”Judaism”. I not only read the article but re-read it. I tell you in all sincerity, without embellishments and exaggeration, that the article is brilliant and shows that you are not only a remarkable student, but also possess a keen incisive mind. Your article was not only very interesting, but very timely. I need not tell you that the problems of the Fifth Amendment are now before the Courts and will be with us for a long time to come. Only yesterday, our Apellate Division of the Supreme Court, Second Department, handed down a decision with respect to confessions. The decision referred to Section 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the State of New York which, insofar as it was pertinent to the case under review, reads as follows:”A confession of a defendant whether in the course of judicial proceedings or to a private person, can be given in evidence against him <hh> but is not sufficient to warrant his con-fession without additional proof that the crime charged has been committed.”You will observe the safeguard which the Legislature es-tablished to prevent the very things you mention in your article. The confessions referred to are voluntary con-fessions because forced confessions are thrown out and not considered by the Courts. Your article, too, disregards forced confessions. In all my years of reading law, I have neveT’ come upon a more lucid exposition of reasons fb r dis-regarding statements of self-incrimination.I congratulate you on your splendid efforts. I extend to you, Mindella and the baby my best wishes for a Hanny pesach.Sincerely,
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Letter to Lawrence Kobrin about Article on the Fourth Amendment and Halacha (1967)

Dear Larry: Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments on my recent article on the Fourth Amendment. The avenue of investigation which you suggest is interesting. Off-hand, however, I am not aware of any communication that is regarded by the Halakhah as "automatically privileged." The very fact that, as I mentioned in my article, every communication is considered sacrosanct, would seem to make superfluous any special category of "privileged information." Nevertheless, I am putting your letter aside and hope to think about it a bit more systematically, when I return to the city, please God. Meanwhile, Mindy joins me in sending best regards to Ruth and in expressing our delight that the two of you, after your long search are finally becoming our close neighbours.Cordially yours,RABBI NORMAN LAMM
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Letter to Saul Bernstein about Response to Article on Fifth Amendment (1967)

Dear Mr. Bernstein: Mr. Gross has completely missed the point of my ״unsound״ essay on the Fifth amendment. I obviously did not advocate the complete substitution of the Halakhah for the Constitution as the legal code of the United States; even Israel has not yet adopted Halakhah as its official law. Had I intended such far-fetched notions, Mr. Gross could readily have pointed to the disqualification of all current Supreme Court Justices on the grounds of their not being Jewish. One could easily discover other such absurdities. What I clearly had in mind, in addition to a comparative analysis for its own sake, was the suggestion that certain profound insights of the Halakhah ought to be studied and adopted by American jurists. The legal concepts considered by the Halakhah as applicable to Israelites are, in our view as traditional Jews, the product of divine wisdom, and hence ought to be emulated by all people. "For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, that when they hear all these statutes they shall say, ’Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’" (Deut.4:6).Surely a proposal that American courts treat its citizens as benei Noach -- in other words, as strangers in their own country -- will not inspire admiration for the wisdom of the statutes of Judaism. An "understanding people" will suggest that other nations treat their citizens as Jewish law demands that Israel act towards bnei Yisrael. Of course, Mr. Gross, in his excessive literalism, may consider this "a sugary, sermonic, inapposite, and idealistic state-ment" of the rules of Halakhah, but if this is the price one must pay for making the wisdom of Judaism available to the rest of man-kind, it is small indeed.Having said this about the major element in his criticism, may I point out that Mr. Gross’ assertions that confession by a ben Noah is admissible ,'as far as I can discover," is not quite that certain. The references he cites are indeed discoverable in t…
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