What is the Law?

The question of the law is brought up in “Eli, the Fanatic” with Eli taking one view on it and Tzuref taking a second. Eli sees the law as simply the law, albeit one that can be bended to fit certain circumstances. On the other hand, Tzuref sees the law as an ever changing set of dictates with some constants, mostly religious terms, which are to be endlessly reinterpreted to find the correct meaning of them. However, the reality of the law is seen to conform to neither of these views. Instead, the law is simply the rules that are put in place by the people with the power to enforce them.

            When talking trying to convince Tzuref to move, Eli argues that “‘It’s a matter of zoning…we didn’t make the laws’” (Roth 251) In this case, the law that Eli is arguing is truly the law because the American government had the power to force Tzuref to either move or be arrested if the case was brought up in court. When Tzuref queries “When is the law that is the law not the law” (Roth 251)? He is telling Eli that he believes that such a thing will not come to pass. Tzuref is saying that while that is the law in wording, it is not the word in truth because all laws are changing. In a way this is true, but that is because the law changes as those in power change. In this case, the zoning laws were not going to change in such a short period of time.

            The main problem with Tzuref’s arguments about the law was that he attached an ephemeral quality to them, saying that they do not really apply in the way that it seems they will and that they will not always be there. I think that this puts too much store into his religious teachings where the Talmud is created, but only creates laws that God has the power to exert over its breakers, particularly in Woodenton. While it is not wrong to abide by those rules, it is foolish to believe that they apply to all rules that are made by man.

Roth, Philip. Eli, the Fanatic. Goodbye, Columbus. Toronto: Bantam, 1969. N. pag. Print.