The Justices of the Sanhedrin Qetanah, currently dealing with the question of the sovereignty of the Republic of Texas, are all Dayyanim (ordained Jewish judges). This ordination, is recognition of the Dayyan's ability to decide matters going to the heart of legal thought through precedent-setting decrees. All are products of the militant Zionist movement which, since the First World War, has fought for the independence of Israel and for the recognition and acceptance of Jewish rights all over the world. Moreover, these judges are individuals who are well-known in their respective non-rabbinic fields.

          The Chief Justice Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman, for example, is an internationally recognized organic chemist and biochemist. He has developed many specifically designed molecules used in many vital industrial processes. He is also noted for his for his work in physical chemistry and astrophysics, and has delivered original papers before the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He heads his own chemical research laboratory at the Weizmann Institute in Rehoboth, Israel. He is one of today's leading experts on Jewish Law (Halakhah). Like the other members of the Court, his professional and scientific work permits him to carry on his judicial and rabbinic work. Almost all the Justices [are] veterans of the Israeli or American Armed Forces. All are experienced in governmental work.

          The Supreme Rabinnic Court (the American predecessor and branch of the Sanhedrin Qitanah, has dealt with many "unpopular" questions such as the excommunication of Henry Kissinger, Rabbin and Peres. It has ruled on questions of the integrity of Israel's territory, based both on the Bible and on modem international guarantees. (The "Great Powers" have generally broken their promises and tried to ignore the Bible.)

          The Court has condemned such matters as the acceptance of homosexuality, marital infidelity, and passive acceptance of injustice. The Court's refusal to go along with popular stock-in-trade Liberal knee jerk rejection of the standards of decency and human dignity called for in the Holy Scriptures, has, of course, lead to its work being ignored or condemned by the "liberal" Reform, Reconstruction and Conservative communities and their rabbis. The last three by not recognizing the liberal ballyhooed abominations for what they really are, do not understand the legal and moral problems which give rise to the Court's forthright actions on these troubling matters. Thus this generation of thinkers are off the main stream of Jewish legal thinking.

          The word Sanhedrin (Greek "Synhedrion") is a translation of the Hebrew Knesseth [Gedowlah] -- the [Great] Assembly. It is a 71 person court.

          The opening statement of the mishnaic (see below) tractate Chapters of the Principles of Ethics (usually mistranslated as the Ethics of the Fathers) states that "Moses received the Torah at Sinai and handed it down to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly...... Retranslating this statement using the words in their usually accepted meanings, the statement becomes much more understandable. Since all Israel received the Torah, i.e., the Tablets onto which the Law was inscribed, what, then is meant by the "Torah" in this statement? "Moses received the Unwritten Law from Him-who-manifested-Himself-to- Moses-at-Sinai, who handed it down to Joshua .... etc.

          This shows the line of ordination which passed down from Moses, ultimately flowing into today's rabbis and Judges. On the example of Deborah and many other wise women, woman may be judges. The ordination as Judge is distinct from and in addition to the teaching ordination. There are several other specialized ordinations.

          This Body of Laws deals with the specific knowledge needed for judging. Solomon was using this type of law when he made his first judgment dealing with the maternity of the surviving baby claimed by the two prostitutes. This Body of Law called Halakhah was finally organized into the Mishnah. The process of organization flourished from the time of the last prophet--and for some five centuries--until the end of the second century.

          The Sanhedrin is a court. It is larger than other courts, which may be of three, five, twenty-three, or seventy-one. Courts are created to deal with commercial disputes, divorce, responsibility for damages occurring on and to specific property, ownership, etc. Courts may be organized by the needs of the times, which may very often constitute real emergencies involving threats to life, survival, and sovereignty and the like. The size of the court depends on the nature of the matter to be decided.

          These statutes and principles are universal in application and do not apply exclusively to Jews. The universal application is encapsulated in two verses in Leviticus 19. Verses 33 and 34 translate as follows:

          "And if a stranger (ger) sojourn with you in your land do not wrong / offend him. " "Like a citizen / born in your house (family) among you is to be the stranger who sojourns with you (hagger haggar >itkhem) and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers (gerim) in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord thy God!"

          This, of course, means the stranger who lives among you in peace. Criminally sinning against your people, your God, and yourself he loses the "right" to live among you. And if you esteem him more highly than you esteem yourself, you have let yourself be diminished and, thus, do not have the merit to live in the land of Israel.

          The terms showing the universal applicability to all humans are found in many places in our Holy Scriptures. The "stranger" is to be respected by our Law if he has not criminally sinned against The-Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He. Isaiah's final statement declares this universality: "It shall definitely be (come to pass) that from one New Moon to the next [as long as these New Moons continue to occur] and from one Sabbath to the next [as long as these Sabbaths continue to occur] all Righteous Mortals (All-flesh) will come to bow down before Me [in Jerusalem.] Those who have criminally sinned against our God will become Objects of Abhorrence (de:ra:>o:wn) to All-Flesh which must be taken to mean all Righteous Mortals since they shall observe the fate of the Abhored Ones. "Righteous Mortals" applies not only to Jews, but to all sincere worshippers in God's House. It clearly excludes those wicked ones who rebelled criminally against God by blatantly disobeying the Second of the Ten Utterances "You shall have no other gods in front of [before] Me." A Righteous Mortal may not bow down to graven images. In Isaiah 2:2 the following is written "And it shall definitely come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's House shall be firmly established as the highest of all mountains and will be exalted above all the other hills, and all nations will stream to it."

          The basic equity of the Jewish legal system irrefutably stated in the Torah****, is shown in practice in the Prophets and the Literary Books the Hebrew Bible.

          The Sanhedrin functioned openly and imposed sentences until the Romans took enforcement powers away from the Halakhic Court System. Nevertheless, courts have continued to function for all these centuries. Roman edicts are meaningless within the framework of Jewish Law. Thus, the Great Assembly has continued its existence until this year, month and day. The needs of the hour have led to new sessions of the Great Assembly being called. If the criterion for the legality of a court is its acceptance by "Caesar", then subservience to the "State" is very much manifest. And if someone tries to question the validity of the Hebrew Court System, that person, by the same token, would be forced to question the validity of our Common Law Courts. The very same people who try to deny the existence of the God-established-people-empowered-and-constituted court system, are the ones who have always tried to smother all expressions of individuality. These ever- ready suppressers of the needs of the people, undermine the people who strive to live free by demanding total conformity and subservience to their will over all the far reaches of the globe which was given to all mankind. The Sanhedrin Qetanah now being constituted in the Land of Israel is not one of the national courts in Israel. It is not subservient to any secular govenment.

          Leviticus 19:1 states that "Ye shall be Holy for I, the Lord your God am Holy. Yea, every man, shall fear [respect] his mother and father; and ye shall keep/observe My sabbaths -- I am the Lord your God."* Subsequent verses of this and following chapter continue to list the attributes of a holy people. Verse 18 states that "Thou shalt not take vengeance nor bear a grudge against the members/children** of thy people, but shalt love thy fellow-human/neighbor*** as thyself -- I am the Lord."

          It is a fundamental principle in Jewish Law that "no man can accuse or testify against a relative." The word for "qarov" relative actually means "near one." This principle is understood to mean the person himself, since no one can be closer to him than himself This is an absolute prohibition of self-incrimination. It is equally clear under the Law a person may not be a judge or member of a jury sitting in judgment on his or her relatives. An interested person is also included. I have recused myself from sitting on the Court in regard to the sovereignty of the Republic because I am a strongly involved in the Republic.

          The terms "I am the Lord* or "I am the Lord, thy God," are frequently used to indicate that the previous statement is a statute just given is to be obeyed without searching for a reason for it, since there is no explainable reason for it. Reasons are given for many of the commandments and one may seek reasons if one wants to do so

          ** We have chosen the term "member" (of the people) in preference to "children" since the latter can be and has been misconstrued as meaning "young offspring, unblemished, innocent and, of course, naive." There are many, completely different words to convey the latter meaning. This and other terms mentioned below refer to adult equals.

          *** The term "re-ah" meaning "fellow human" or "close friend" has been badly translated by the restrictive denotation of "neighbor." In speaking to or about a man, the feminine term "re-ah" means "Lady Wife." Speaking of or to a woman, "re-a" means "husband."

          **** Jews were given 613 Commandments. Ten of these, erroneously called Commandments are called Utterances [Dibroth] in Hebrew.

By Rabbi Herbert Gilnair - Proud Citizen of the Republic of Texas