לע"נ הרב דוד בן ר' חיים
The President is called "Nasi" and some people equate him to the "Nasi" in the Torah. This is a big mistake. In the Torah a Nasi is either a king [ואשר נשיא יחטא - ויקרא ד' כ"ב - עי' הוריות פ"ג מ"ג] or the head of a tribe ["ונשיא לבני יהודה נחשון בן עמינדב"] that we know about from Krias Hatorah on Chanuka or the Nasi of the Sanhedrin [עי' רמב"ם הלכות סנהדרין א - ג]. The "Nasi" of Medinat Yisrael is just an honorific position that holds no power, no authority, no importance, no nothing. He just goes to ceremonies, gives speeches and gets paid a nice salary for doing so. Many people want to do away with this silly, meaningless position. The President himself is not one of those people:-). So outside of respecting the president because he is a human being there is no special mitzva to honor him or aveirah for cursing him from the pasuk ונשיא בעמך לא תאור - not that it is a MITZVA to curse him either. But a Nasi he is not.
The President is called "Nasi" and some people equate him to the "Nasi" in the Torah. This is a big mistake. In the Torah a Nasi is either a king [ואשר נשיא יחטא - ויקרא ד' כ"ב - עי' הוריות פ"ג מ"ג] or the head of a tribe ["ונשיא לבני יהודה נחשון בן עמינדב"] that we know about from Krias Hatorah on Chanuka or the Nasi of the Sanhedrin [עי' רמב"ם הלכות סנהדרין א - ג]. The "Nasi" of Medinat Yisrael is just an honorific position that holds no power, no authority, no importance, no nothing. He just goes to ceremonies, gives speeches and gets paid a nice salary for doing so. Many people want to do away with this silly, meaningless position. The President himself is not one of those people:-). So outside of respecting the president because he is a human being there is no special mitzva to honor him or aveirah for cursing him from the pasuk ונשיא בעמך לא תאור - not that it is a MITZVA to curse him either. But a Nasi he is not.
Now the Prime Minister is a dfferent story. He is really the polical leader [akin to a king] of the State of Israel and its citizens, whether we like him or not. So maybe one has to give him special respect as one would a king. Here is a somewhat lengthy discussion. But I believe thet the author is missing a key point that renders the enitre analysis superfluous. The Rambam rules [Melachim 1/7] that one may not appoint a person to public office if he lacks Yiras Shomayim. So it would seem that having a open, out of the closet if you will, secular Jew as Prime Minister makes his job halachically irrelevant. No Yiras Shomayim - no מינוי. That is the Rambam's psak. [Unless one argues that the Rambam would agree that bi-dieved it is a מינוי].
On the other hand, we do find that Eliyahu honored Achav [see Zevachim 102] who was no Tzadik by any stretch of the imagination. Moshe was commanded to honor Paroh [Va-era 6-13 with Rashi]. No great Tzadik either. The Maharsha [Zevachim ibid] writes:
So why would a secular Prime Minister be any different? On the other hand one can easily argue that in our democracy he is not a king at all. Rav Kook has a famous teshuva [משפט כהן קמ"ד if my memory serves me correctly] where he says that in the absence of a real king, the people take the place of the king and whomever they elect to office has the status of king. But that is a debatable chiddush.
So we have two questions - Is the Prime Minister like a king at all and even if he is must we honor him despite the fact that he is a mechalel Shabbos etc.?
Practically speaking, in the Nationalist religious camp they accord Israeli political leaders great respect. In the Charedi world - much much less. And even the respect given is just for a show of Kavod Habriyos, but amongst themselves they relate to them with derision. After all, מחלל שבת דינו כגוי.... People who wantonly desecrate what is holy deserve no respect.
I am not paskening - just presenting the facts as I see them.
