In my opening post, I quoted several frightening statements from Chazal that spell out how enormous is the responsibility of Jewish judges and that many are those who are guilty of “mismanagement” (to be nice). I don’t know if any of these passages are as frightening as the one that we all know from the Mishna at the end of the first chapter of Pirkei Avos:
רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר, על שלשה דברים העולם קיים, על הדין ועל האמת ועל השלום, שנאמר (זכריה ח, טז) אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם.
Raban Shimon ben Gamliel says: The world remains in existence on account of three things – on judgement (Din), on truth (Emess), and on peace (Shalom), as is written (Zecharia 8:16), “truth and judgement and peace must be judged in your cities.”
The implication of this statement is that the application of these three things are vitally essential for sustaining the continued existence of the world. One who upholds these values is sustaining the existence of the world and, conversely, one who is responsible for maintaining these values and shirks his responsibility – and more so if he acts against these values – is destroying the world.
Destroying the world!
As said, these three values keep the world from self-immolation. According to the Mishna they are:
Din – Emess – Shalom
But, according to the verse in Zecharia 8:16 that teaches this to us, they are:
Emess – Mishpat – Shalom
E. M. Sh. = EMeSh.
Introducing Project Emesh. Project Emess, Mishpat and Shalom.
This Mishna in Avos is so fundamental that Rabenu Yaakov ben Asher, the Tur Shulchan Aruch, quotes it to open his section on monetary laws, Choshen Mishpat (1:1).
The Tur writes a very long introduction, but his main point is that without din - the rule of the judges - along with emess (truth), there cannot be any shalom (peace). Note that the Beis Yosef, ad loc., wants to say that the attribute of din applies to the dayanim, the attribute of emess applies to the witnesses and the attribute of shalom applies to the litigants once they accept the ruling. But the Tur himself places all three things in the domain of the dayanim. If the dayanim do not judge properly, they are ultimately to blame that there is no peace among the litigants.
This even applies if they are called upon to sit in judgement and refrain from doing so. They are not at liberty to walk away. Every Jew is responsible to do what he or she can to prevent another Jew from suffering losses to life, limb or property. This obligation is called השבת אבידה.
This mitzva happens to be written in this week’s Parsha, Ki Teitzeh (Devarim 22:1 and 22:4). In the mitzva of hashavas aveida (and the following one), the Torah tells us one cannot be present when another Jew’s sheep is wandering or their donkey collapses and ignore them (לא תראה...והתעלמת). If he is present and is in position to assist, he is obligated to do so. We will see the importance of this in future posts.
In my own experiences in monetary Batei Din I have seen way too much shefichas “damim”, in all its ambiguity. This is why it brings cherev to the world (Avos 5:11). There are flaws in the system that cause this that can be easily fixed.
The mission of Project Emesh is to identify the flaws and to suggest possible remedies. Allow me to repeat what I wrote in my previous post:
This is a project to educate readers about Beis Din. What it is and what it isn’t; how it works and how it should work; what every person should know before they call for a Din Torah or before they respond to one; and how to avoid getting hurt.
Most people, even the most learned among us don’t have a clue.
In short, it is an exercise in hashavas aveida.
One Above and Seven Below was released 17 years ago. As I wrote in the Introduction of the book, its primary purpose is to educate consumers of Judaism as to how it really works. How to get the best results from this “product”. Sadly, those of us who aren’t learned aren’t learned and, as such, they are “consumers” (as opposed to “professionals” or “experts”).
One of the most neglected parts of our religion are the laws of business and monetary issues and resolving disputes. As I wrote in my section about prenups, this applies to family law as well. People blindly get married without really knowing the rights and obligations of each side and what to do if, chas v’shalom, their problems get as far as a Beis Din. When they get to Beis Din, they don’t know what hits them. For this reason, I suggested reforming the Chassan-Kallah education system to include relevant parts of Even HaEzer.
If a kallah is taught what kinds of behaviors will result in her losing her ketubah in Beis Din, she will know that these behaviors are not only unacceptable, but are hazardous to her bottom line. This should bring about better conduct during a marriage and, when the worst happens, a smoother divorce. But these rules are usually not even taught.
When it comes to Batei Din for mammonos, the problems go way beyond mere ignorance of the players and not knowing the rules, i.e., problems that apply to the litigants. the problems also concern the dayanim of the Batei Din who take advantage of this universal ignorance to bypass the rules. This happens in Batei Din for gittin as well, but there is more hefkeirus (lawlessness) in the monetary courts.
I will explain why this is so in an upcoming post, but I will divulge one part of the reason. A lot of this has to do with the independence of the various Batei Din. There is absolutely no regulation or oversight for Batei Din, no organization that controls or “unionizes” the Batei Din to work within uniform guidelines. There are no ethics committees and no courts of appeal. There is no Vaad HaKashrut for Batei Din. Not in Israel, for the monetary Batei Din, and not in the diaspora for any Batei Din.
We need these things. Without them, there is no authentic mishpat, no emess and certainly no shalom. This is destroying the world.
And so, the primary mission of Project Emesh, just like the mission of One Above and Seven Below, is to educate the consumerist public about how the system works and how to use it successfully. I consider both to be an exercise in hashavas aveida.
The secondary objective is to serve or establish some kind of regulatory body which will oversee all affiliated Batei Din. Any Beis Din that won’t be affiliated with this umbrella agency will be considered a outcast. This is similar to the Vaad Mishmeres HaSTaM here in Eretz Yisrael. At some point, I would like to create a database of specific Batei Din and rate their efficiency and compliance.
The ultimate goal is to strengthen emess, mishpat and shalom. Thus, the ultimate goal is to sustain the world!
The upcoming posts will present the realities, the problems and the solutions. They are based on my personal experiences in Beis Din and some as an observer, my association with dayanim and toanim, and my [limited] knowledge of Choshen Mishpat. I know enough to take on this project but there is plenty that I don’t know and would like to.
As such, I encourage any and all readers who have firsthand accounts of the excesses of our Batei Din (i.e., “horror stories”) to share their stories with me. I only want the true objective facts but as much detail as possible. I am more interested in the monetary Batei Din, but stories of any Batei Din are valuable.
As of right now, Project Emesh is nothing more than a concept that resides in my blog site. It is not an official NPO or Amuta, but I hope it will one day be one. It is not [yet] monetized, it has no staff, no web page and no specific email address. It’s all right here.
I do not yet have a dedicated web site or email address for this project, so for now, all correspondence should be sent to my One Above email address: 1a7b.author@gmail.com.
I hope this project will take off, make a name for itself and a place for itself (Amuta), and make a constructive difference in Orthodox Jewish society. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get interviewed on Meaningful People.
After all, I am trying to strengthen Emess, Mishpat and Shalom with the goal of sustaining the entire world. What could be more meaningful than that?
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