What is the ideal form of government?  What is the proper relationship between a king and the courts?  Can political leaders act outside the law?   Where do prophets, priests and religious leaders fit into the structures of political power?  

While we often consider these questions by looking to great texts of the Western tradition, the Jewish tradition -- from the Tanach to modern philosophers -- have wrestled with these questions for millennia as well.  In this series, we'll consider these questions from the perspective of that tradition.  Texts will include selections from Massechet Sanhedrin, the writings of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona, and more.

Yishai Schwartz is a member of Kesher Israel and a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General.