Q: Does one sit shiva for a secular Israeli?
A: It is true that we do not sit shiva for one
who separates himself from the ways of the community (Rambam, Hilchot Avel 1:10
and Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 345:5).
The Rambam says (ibid.) that people who separate themselves from the
community are "The people who cast off the yoke of the mitzvot from their
necks and are not included among the community of Israel." And the Shulchan Aruch writes (ibid.):
"They are like free people for themselves like the rest of the
nations." This means that they are
people who left the Nation of Israel, and one who leaves defines himself as an
outsider. But Maran Ha-Rav Kook makes an
important clarification in his article "Al Bamotenu Chalalim"
(Ma'amrei Ha-Re'eiyah, p. 89). He
discusses the exact same question about shiva for two members of the secular
movement "Ha-Shomer" who were killed in the Galil. Maran Ha-Rav Kook said that secular Jews are
not defined as those who separate themselves from the ways of the
community. The separation which appears
in the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch is comprised of two parts: separation from
Judaism and separation from the Nation of Israel. In the past, one went with the other: if one
left the religion he also left the Nation, and he was thus “outside”. Maran Ha-Rav Kook says that today this is not
so. Some people leave the religion but
do not leave their connection to the Nation of Israel, and they display enormous
self-sacrifice for the Nation, and are sometimes even killed for the Nation, as
were the members of the "Ha-Shomer" movement. Therefore, this law does not apply to
them. As is known, in the language of Halachah, they are like a "Tinok
She-Nishba" (literally a Jewish child captured and raise among
non-Jews). The Rambam explains in
Hilchot Mamrim (3:3) that a "Tinok She-Nishba" is a Jew who did not
receive a proper Jewish upbringing and education. In simple words, they are confused. They do not separate themselves from the
religion in order to destroy the Nation of Israel. They separate themselves because they do not
know any better. The great authorities
already ruled that these difficult halachot do not apply to secular Jews in our
days, since they are "Tinokot She-Nishbu." This is also the opinion of the Chareidi
authorities. For example, Nitei Gavriel
(Hilchot Aveilut) quotes the Charedi authorities who rule that we do sit shiva
for a "Tinok She-Nishba" – a category which today includes secular
Israelis.
