הזכות לקיום בכבוד בראי המשפט העברי: מעמדה החוקתי

The Supreme Court ruling in the Commitment to Peace and Social Justice Society v. Minister of Finance was a milestone in recognizing the constitutional status of the right to life in dignity. The Supreme Court established that the responsibility for ensuring the social security of the poor is part of the constitutional structure of the State of Israel and binds the Legislature and the Executive. How would this Supreme Court ruling have differed if Jewish Law sources had been among those that inspired the judges? This article is devoted to outlining the contribution Jewish Law could have made to the legal discussion of this issue. The article suggests four complementary conclusions. First, in recognizing the legal responsibility of the State for the social security of its citizens as part of its constitutional structure, the justices of the Supreme Court could have found a historical anchor and conceptual roots in the Jewish legal tradition. Second, the holding that the right to life in dignity is a constitutional right, superior to other legal norms, is an achievement of Israeli law that could have contributed significantly to the development ot he Jewish tradition in this field had the decision been made through dialogue with Jewish sources. Third, in the context of legal language, the duty-based discourse of Jewish law has advantages over the rights-based discourse of the Supreme Court (“The Right to Life in Dignity”). Fourth,while the Supreme Court justices derived the right to social security from the right to dignity, Jewish Law points to the opposite connection between the two – assisting the poor is particularly prone to injuring dignity, and therefore particular sensitivity is required in identifying appropriate means of assistance. Jewish Law can therefore reinforce some of the conclusions of the Supreme Court; it can be enriched by others; and it can challenge yet others. This is an invitation to construct a Jewish-Israeli discourse in the realm of welfare law by merging the horizons of the worlds of Jewish Law and Israeli Law.