114 Selected Reform Responsi
ments or Israel must be resisted and rejected. There the community may be hurt by ransom efforts, and that is akin to the problem which Meir of Rothenburg faced. Here, however, everything within reason should be done by the family and the community to obtain the release of the hostage.
: According to Jewish tradition, is a Jewish lawyer obliged to defend Arab terrorists who attempt to kill Jews in Israel if the lawyer is designated to defend them? Is a Jewish lawyer obliged to defend terrorists who attempt to kill people in general if the lawyer is designated to defend them? Is a Jewish lawyer obliged to defend a member of the American Nazi Party when the lawyer knows that the goal of the American Na? Party is detrimental to the Jewish people?(Rabbi Jack Segal Houston Texas)
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ANSWER: We should begin by making it clear that the curre”
system of appointing a lawyer or the hiring of a lawyer to defen
appears late in our tradition. Although a person might have engaged someone to speak for him, this was usually not an ind" vidual who made his livelihood as an attorney. A representati’® akin to the modern attorney was used if the individual could n° appear personally due to illness or distance or if one of the p2" ties felt inadequate to the test of presenting a case. Most cas proceeded without an attorney. The traditional Jewish court pr cedure saw judges engaged in interrogation and so they di much of what attorneys do in the American courts. Vario” responsa mentioned attorneys and dealt with problems asso”
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