By Dvora Lakein for Lubavitch.com
NEW YORK, NY — Gossip columns may plaster the internet and paper newsstands. But is this commerce of secrets permissible according to Jewish or American tradition?
“Jewish tradition is duty-oriented,” explains Rabbi Michael Broyde, “the holder of data has no right to use it indiscriminately; it is his obligation to apply it responsibly.” Broyde is a law professor at Emory University and a member of Beth Din of America, the nation’s largest Jewish court. “American common law,” he contrasts, “protects freedom of speech,” and otherwise assumes a person’s inalienable rights. According to this expert of both legal systems, Jewish law and the American legal tradition “are at two completely different places.”
Justice Scalia, Talmudic Scholars On Privacy, Free Speech
By Dvora Lakein for Lubavitch.com
NEW YORK, NY — Gossip columns may plaster the internet and paper newsstands. But is this commerce of secrets permissible according to Jewish or American tradition?
“Jewish tradition is duty-oriented,” explains Rabbi Michael Broyde, “the holder of data has no right to use it indiscriminately; it is his obligation to apply it responsibly.” Broyde is a law professor at Emory University and a member of Beth Din of America, the nation’s largest Jewish court. “American common law,” he contrasts, “protects freedom of speech,” and otherwise assumes a person’s inalienable rights. According to this expert of both legal systems, Jewish law and the American legal tradition “are at two completely different places.”
1
