Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the Web Yeshiva course on the Laws of Beit Din.
The Torah encompasses two areas of law; there are the laws regarding our obligations to God and the laws which regulate our relationships with other people. Both areas of law are equally sacred. I think that since we live in a secular society in which commercial activity is governed by secular law we have formed the mistaken impression that our dealings with difficult storekeepers is of no interest to God.
The truth is that nothing could be further from the truth. The fourth portion of the Shulchan Aruch is titled חושן משפט and it covers all areas of commercial law. When you go through its table of contents you find headings such laws of loans, estate law, employment law, laws of burglary and robbery, laws of damages and every other form of interaction which can lead to a dispute between people. These laws are as integral to the Shulchan Aruch as are the dietary and Sabbath laws, and together they form the Torah.
Over the past few semesters we covered some areas of the Halacha’s commercial law (which is referred to as דיני ממונות). Besides the laws of usury, we discussed the laws of inheritance, employment law and privacy law. In the coming z’man we will discuss the court system. We will cover the role of the courts in Jewish society and how the courts operate.
To those of you who live in isolated communities these classes may be more theoretical than practical since you will probably never have an occasion to appear before a Beit Din either as a claimant or as a respondent. Nevertheless I think that it is important for all Jews to know how our court stem works. We need to know the Torah’s (which is of course the expression of Hashem’s will) rules for the administration of justice. The Torah is the Divine blueprint for the organization of our lives. Disputes over property are part of life and are not inherently “profane” or otherwise unworthy of the Torah’s consideration.
Chazal said:
רי”ף מסכת שבת דף מד עמוד ב
דאמר רב המנונא כל האומר ויכולו כשהוא מתפלל מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו נעשה שותף להקב”ה במעשה בראשית
And we also find:
מכילתא דרבי שמעון בר יוחאי פרק יח
כל הדן דין אמת לאמתו מעלה עליו הכת’ כאלו שותף במעשה בראשית
So we see that the administration of justice, as well as the Sabbath, makes us partners with God in maintaining the Creation. That is why I think it is so important for all of us to know the Torah of justice, and to understand that this is not something that does not concern us as Jews.
To everyone who is new to Web Yeshiva I want to say, “Welcome aboard.” Web Yeshiva is a wonderful forum for people from all over the world to learn Torah together. Whether you participate “live” or listen to the shiurim via the archives I look forward to hearing from you. Since we don’t meet physically it is difficult for me to know how well I am teaching or how clearly I am making my points. I therefore ask that anyone who has any sort of comment or suggestion should write to me at
fish9999@gmail.com
I look forward to meeting with you this coming Tuesday. Stuart Fischman