parshat Mishpatim

Our parasha opens with the pasuk, “These are the statutes that you shall place before them” (Shemot 21:1). This is the source for Chazal’s derasha that adjudication is to be done in front of a Jewish beit din and not before non-Jews or those who are not trained in Torah law (Gittin 88b). The Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 26:1) rules this way, including in cases in which both sides agree to the non-Torah arrangement. Not only that, but one who is not careful on this matter is called a “rasha” and like “one who blasphemes the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu.”

As we customarily do on Parashat Mishpatim, we will discuss an element of our approach to the challenges of jurisprudence at the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit rabbinical courts. This time: what is the halachic status of a corporation, and how do our batei din handle the matter?

In the past, we presented sources on the topic of an appeal’s court in a beit din system and the policy of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit network. The echoes from the big dispute that accompanied the establishment of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Courts reverberate to this day. It started between the rabbis of Yerushalayim and those of Yafo, and it turned into a machloket between supporters of the Chief Rabbinate, founded by Rav A.Y. Kook z.t.l., and opponents, led by Rav Chaim Zonnenfeld z.t.l.