Igros Moshe (CM I #8) Question: A butcher has been found to have sold unkosher meat as kosher meat, is it permitted to have him arrested by the secular government who claim they follow the same rules as required by Jewish law? Answer The question is primarily the concern that he will be punished more harshly by fines and imprisonment than Torah Law would punish. Therefore should the matter be dealt with instead entirely by Rabbis and beis din? In my view even though he has done a terrible transgression and seems to not have any regrets, neverless as long as it is not clear that the rabbis can not stop him he is not to be turned over to the government for two reasons. 1) It is prohibited to utilize the secular courts. 2) They will punish him with jail and fines that exceed that provided by Jewish law thus getting into the problem of moser.That is because it is prohibited to cause a Jew to be taken by non-Jews whether physically or financially even if he is a rasha and sinner. It is only if it is clear that the rabbis can not stop him is it permitted. It is only after he is warned first that if he doesn’t stop he will be arrested. There is also the concern he will deny the accusation in civil court and even make a fale oath. In conclusion, he should first be judged by a beis din and they should try to stop him from selling meat. If he doesn’t comply then he should be turned over to the secular government
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Isn't the halachic punishment for selling treif as kosher, a penalty of malkos, plus reimbursement for the value of kosher vs non kosher meat (whatever that would amount to, irrelevant anyway cause that would never be enforced)?
ReplyDeleteAccordingly, the civil penalty would be much less than the halachic penalty.
Note this would only apply to treif vs kosher meat, not any other such cases.
So in the time it takes for the rabbis to stop the butcher, he is still selling treif to Jews who think it's kosher .
ReplyDeleteIf this goes on for say 6 months or so, the rabbis are liable for feeding people treif. Because they didn't want to report.