What is the Torah View on "Dina D'malchusa Dina" (the Halachic Rule to Follow the Law of the Land)?

The concept of Dina D'malchusa Dina—“the law of the land is the law”—has often been misunderstood and misapplied, especially in the context of the State of Israel. For the Torah world, Dina D'malchusa Dina does not mean that any secular government can legislate laws for Jews to follow. In fact, this concept is limited, conditional, and entirely subordinate to the eternal authority of Torah and halacha.

What Does Dina D'malchusa Dina Actually Mean?

The phrase originates from the Gemara in Nedarim 28a, Gittin 10b, and most famously Bava Kama 113a, and is cited in the Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 369). It establishes that in certain monetary and civil matters, Jews are halachically bound to obey the laws of the host country in which they reside, as long as:

1. The laws are just and universally applied,
   
2. The government has legitimate authority (a malchus),
   
3. The laws do not contradict the Torah.
   

Rav Yosef Karo writes in the Shulchan Aruch:

"דינא דמלכותא דינא – בכל דבר שהוא לתקנת בני המדינה" (Choshen Mishpat 369:6)

Meaning, it applies only to matters that maintain order and are accepted as beneficial to the general population—like property rights, taxes, and transportation—not to laws that dictate Jewish life or override Torah.

The Secular Israeli Government Has No Halachic Standing

The modern State of Israel, according to the Charedi view, does not qualify as a malchus in the halachic sense for the following reasons:

• It was not established according to Torah law.
  
• It is not based on Torah principles.
  
• Its leaders do not follow halacha.
  
• Its legal system is not derived from Torah, but from British and Ottoman law with modern liberal democratic adaptations.
  

The Chazon Ish was clear: any system of law that competes with Torah law is illegitimate. He writes:

"Even if a secular judge rules justly, he is considered a thief if he judges based on foreign law rather than Torah." (Chazon Ish, Sanhedrin 15:4)

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l echoed this:

"The existence of a secular court system in Eretz Yisrael is not only unnecessary but a profound chilul Hashem, as it replaces Hashem’s eternal law with man-made legislation."

Thus, the Israeli legal system may be a functioning bureaucracy, but it has zero halachic authority. A secular Jew, no matter how ethical he may seem, has no right to legislate laws for other Jews—because a Jew’s life is already bound by the laws of the Torah. No human body has the right to override that.

Do Charedim Follow Any Secular Laws?

Yes—but only for practical, not ideological, reasons.

• Charedim follow traffic laws, because such laws exist in every country and are a matter of safety and order, not ideology.
  
• Charedim follow civil laws like zoning, business licenses, and sanitation, not because they’re inherently valid, but because:
  
  • Violating them may lead to jail or fines.
    
  • These laws often overlap with common-sense ethics.
    
  • We are not anarchists. We desire peace and harmony wherever we live.
    

But to be crystal clear:

We do not follow these laws because we accept the authority of the State. We follow them because halacha permits—and often obligates us—to maintain peace and avoid trouble, as long as it does not conflict with Torah.

The Rambam makes this point in Hilchos Gezeilah V’Aveidah 5:18—when dealing with secular courts and systems, if they do not contradict Torah and are part of maintaining civil order, they may be respected—but not as a source of law.

There Is One Law—and That Is Hashem’s

The Torah is the Constitution of Klal Yisrael. Everything else is at best a temporary tool, and at worst, an affront to Hashem.

Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro zt”l said it sharply:

"To say that the secular State has a right to govern Am Yisrael is to say that man can replace Hashem. Such thinking is not just wrong, it’s apikorsus."

Charedim live with the emunah that Hashem gave us a perfect system—Torah—and it must govern all aspects of life: private and public, spiritual and civil, family and political. Any attempt to sideline Torah—even with good intentions—is rebellion against the Divine Will.

Final Thought: Let the State Submit to Torah

The burden of compliance is not on the Torah world. It is the State that must align itself with Torah, not the other way around.

Charedim do not reject order. We reject secularism. We do not reject law. We reject law without Hashem.

The ideal Jewish society is not one where the Torah compromises with the state, but where the state becomes an extension of Torah.

Sources & Footnotes

1. Bava Kama 113a; Nedarim 28a; Gittin 10b – Original sources of Dina D’malchusa Dina.
   
2. Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 369:6.
   
3. Chazon Ish, Sanhedrin 15:4 – Foreign law is theft even if just.
   
4. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, quoted in Halichos Shlomo, vol. 1.
   
5. Rambam, Hilchos Gezeilah V’Aveidah 5:18 – Application of civil law under non-Torah systems.
   
6. Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, Shaarei Shemuos, Derashos on Parshas Shoftim.