What power does the Beth Din have?

The Sydney Beth Din r:ecently criticised the Australian Jewish News' coverage of the Mardi Gras, requesting a meeting with the ' l~ditor to discuss the issue. And in recent months, controversy surrounded the Beth Din. ,Who appoints the Be~h Din? And what are its powers in the community?

RABBI RAYMOND, APPLE THE institutIon of a Beth Din goe~ back to the time of Mos~:~~who '''' ~ appointed elders to asSisthifu' In ., judging, and governing thecont~ .:, munlty. Other great . Biblical fig~ ' : , lues are also said to have .haa ' their Batel Din, and In the ';tab. binlc period there arose a carelul- '.' An archival Iy controlled hierarchy b.f courts " photograph from that dealt with both'secular"and the Sydney Beth , religioUS law: not that there wils a . Din, with distinction between' the secular David Rogut at left and the religious, since Jewish and Rabbi law is one integrated system and Raymond Apple at how you run your shop and how right. you pray are equally important. Indeed how you deal with people jurisdiction shrank, though the cise jurisdiction outside their is in a sense even more important rule remains that when sum­ own group. than how you run your private moned to a Beth Din for the hear­ In British countries the Chief spiritual life; some siddurim ing of a dispute, Jewish individu­ Rabbi in London exercised reli­ insist that before saying anything als and institutions, including gious jurisdiction until quite about loving the Lord our God synagogues, are duty-bound to recently, including the appoint­ (Deut. 6:5), a person should attend. ment of chairmen and members affirm that they love their neigh­ A Beth Din has status in the of the local Batei Din. In bour as themselves (Lev. 19:18). general legal system as a recog­ Melbourne and Sydney, the Av Since the Torah requires that nised medium of alternative dis­ Beth Din (head of the Beth Din) in every generation a person pute resolution. In theory an was regarded as the official repre­ should take any difficult question appeal to a civil court against a sentative of the Chi ef Rabbi in the or issue to "the judge that shall Beth Din ruling is possible but local community, and problems be in those days" (Deut. 17:9), it this would generally only be involving the operations of the is a basic expression of Jewish because of misconduct (fraud, Beth Din were referred to London loyalty that a Jew should accept corruption, bias, etc) by the for resolution. In the late 1950's the authority of a duly ordained arbitrator or the denial of natural Chief Rabbi Brodie firml y and authorised rabbi. In some justice, but both are highly vetoed the plans of a Melbourne matters it is permitted for a rabbi rabbi to set up an opposition to act alone and give a decision Beth Din , though there had previ­ on his own, but the sages regard­ ously been a second Beth Din led ed a rabbi who acted without col­ , by a great rabbinic scholar, Rabbi leagues as arrogant. The normal A Beth Din is a J.L. Gurewicz. quorum of judges on a Beth Din is The Sydney Beth Din has usu­ three, though there can be more; recognised medium ally been composed of of in ancient times there were larger major congregations, which has courts for some purposes, eg the ensured community loyalty and court of 23 for capital cases and of alternative acceptance. For a number of the court of 71 that ruled on years Sydney has had no Av Beth national Issues (Mishnah dispute resolution.' Din, and Beth Din decisions are Sanhedrin). '" based on agreement. There is fre­ The degree of jurisdiction that quent consultation with other a Beth Din possessed always Batei Din and Halachic authorities depended on the degree of jUdi­ unlikely because of the strict elsewhere. Sydney handles Halachic matters for many com­ cial ~utonomy enjoyed by. a rules of procedure laid down by Jewish community. Throughout Jewish law. munities in , New the centuries of the Diaspora, The general experience has Zealand ' and South East Asia, Jewish commercial life was regu­ been that there is only one Beth apart from Melbourne. Beth Din lated by the rabbis, who also Din In a community; the Rambam members are not remunerated, often adjudicated civil disputes codifies the rabbinic explanation though there is a paid part-time and sometimes also criminal of Deut. 14:1, "You shall not cut secretary and an official scribe. cases. The massive literature of yourselves" as "there shall not be The only fees which are charged she 'elot ut'shuvot (rabbinic two Batei Din in. a city" (Hitchot are for the administration of gittin Avodah Zarah 12:14). In some (religious divorces) and arbitra- responsa) Indicates the range of tions. . Issues the rabbis dealt with, and places the Jewish population also affords us valuable Informa­ had, and has, different kehlllot • The original text of this item tion about the social life of the each governed internally by Its appeared in Rabbi Raymond times. With the coming of the own Beth Din, but such Batel Din Apple s e-mail list: emancipation, however, rabbinic did not necessarily claim or exer- [email protected]