The Jewish System of Justice
The Torah commands us to create a judicial system of judges and police. The Gemara, the embodiment of the Oral Law, teaches that conviction in a criminal case requires the testimony of two witnesses who say that they both warned the criminal before the crime was committed and that they saw the criminal act. It would seem that if our judicial system would be administered on the basis of Talmudic law very few criminals would ever be punished.
One of the great Rishonim, Rabbeinu Nissim of Gerona was bothered by this. In one of his sermons, he presented a remarkable idea. He taught that in Jewish law there are two systems of justice. One system is “ideal” and follows the Gemara. The second system is “pragmatic” and allows for other means of obtaining a conviction. Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman as he explores the idea of Rabbeinu Nissim.
The Jewish System of Justice: The Jewish System of Justice
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to this series of five meetings om the subject of “The Jewish System of Justice.” The purpose of these meetings , as I see it, is to answer this question. One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the story of the two women who came to the young King Solomon seeking justice. Each woman accused the other woman of having stolen her child. The question that I hope to answer is why did the women go the king and not to a court.
I look forward to meeting with you.
The Jewish System of Justice: The Jewish System of Justice
Hello Everyone,
last week we began our discussion series on the subject of the Jewish System of Justice. We saw that the Jewish/Halachic system of justice demands a very high standard of evidence . Guilty verdicts may not be passed on the basis of circumstantial evidence no matter how closely such evidence approaches absolute certainty. The Rambam wrote that it would be better to acquit one thousand murderers than to convict one innocent person of this crime.
It is the Rambam himself who acknowledged that this system of justice can lead to a breakdown of society with murderers going unpunished. The Rambam wrote that there is a second system of justice. If a murder is committed by a person who cannot be convicted by the “ideal” system of Halachic justice, the courts can sentence him to death anyway. The Rambam explains that murder is the crime which attacks society and a society must protect itself.
The Rambam limits this “extra-judicial” punishment to the crime of murder. Today we will see that the great Spanish commentator, Rabbeinu Nissim presents a very different perspective on the ideal Jewish system of justice.
The Jewish System of Justice: The Jewish System of Justice
Hello Everyone,
For the past two weeks we have discussed the “Jewish System of Justice.” We saw how two of the greatest of our scholars, the Rambam and (the lesser known) Rabbeinu Nisim taught that within this “Jewish System of Justice” accommodations were made to meld the “system” with the needs of society.
The area of law which we saw over the past two weeks was the area of criminal law. Today we will study civil law. There is a single great difference between criminal law and civil law. In Jewish criminal law circumstantial evidence is not admissible. Criminal law procedure is rigid. We saw that the Rambam taught that it is better that one thousand criminals be acquitted in order that a single innocent person not be convicted. Civil law procedure allows judges tremendous latitude in reach a decision. There is a well-known rule in civil law: “אין לדיין אלא מה שעיניו רואות”- “the judge has naught but what his eyes see.” Today we will see how civil law is carried out.
The Jewish System of Justice: The Jewish System of Justice
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to our final session in this series of meetings on the Jewish system of justice.
By a “Jewish” system of justice I mean a system operating according to Jewish law- the Halacha. And just as in secular systems of law judges must have certain credentials, the Halacha requires credentials of its judges. The credential that a judge must possess is “semicha” (translated as ordination). This requirement has posed a problem for the past 1500 years or so. Ordination was an unbroken chain from the time Moses ordained his disciple Joshua. But in the fifth century the Roman emperor Theodosius the Second put an end to the Patriarchate in Israel. And with no Patriarch in Israel there was no longer any proper ordination.
Since then Jewish courts have been operating on an ad hoc system of sorts which we will discuss today.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.