Shmot

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?

The midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 15:18) connects the pasuk, “Assemble for me seventy men” (Bamidbar 11:16) to “He built the Heavens level upon level, and His congregation He founded on the land” (Amos 9:6). The midrash comments that, as hard as it is to say so, Hashem’s throne in the Heavens is stable only if Israel forms a cohesive congregation. What is the great significance of this unity? The midrash (Bereishit Rabba 38:6) says on the pasuk, “There is a connection in Ephrayim through idols; leave him” (Hoshea 4:17) that even if the people are idol worshippers, if they are connected to each other, Hashem will leave them unscathed. What possible positive element can come from the binding together of wicked people?