Monday, July 8, 2019

The Jewish Bet Din Explained

By Barbara Wright


Judaism is a religion largely practiced in Israel, the United States of America, Canada, some parts of Europe, Brazil, South Africa and other countries that have a significant population of Jews. At the heart of Judaism, there is the Torah. This has a set of laws. The Jewish Bet Din occupies an important place in the Torah and in Judaism in general. It is a religious court. Thus, it deals with interpreting the religious laws that are found in the Torah. In Israel, there is the freedom of religion as well as other freedoms such as freedom of movement. Thus, one can believe anything.

The Bet Din is religious in nature. That means that it can only be applied in a religious context and in this case it is the religion of Judaism. Therefore, a Christian or an Islam who is living in the state of Israel will not be bound by the rules of this court. This court has a number of officials.

The chief of court is the most senior official. He has a final say on all the matters of the court. This has to be a highly respected rabbi or posek. This is someone who understands the ins and outs of Torah, which is the holiest book in Judaism. A rabbinic judge will be concerned with cross-examining witnesses.

The Bet Din can be traced back to ancient Biblical times. The Bible starts with the book of Genesis. This documents the creation of planet earth. The next book is Exodus. It is in this book that one will start seeing references of this kind of court. The Exodus from Egypt to Israel was an important period in the history of the Jews.

The ancient Bet Din was a very powerful court. It had a lot of say in everyday life in Israel. Its effects were felt all over the land. With its righteous judgments, the people of Israel flourished and they became the talk all over the world. It dealt with all kinds of judicial cases including criminal and civil cases.

The status of the court kept changing. At times, it was quite powerful. In other times, it was merely symbolic. Changes occurred as a result of changes in the history of the world. When the Romans conquered most parts of the world, most local based courts lost their power as a result of the establishment of the Roman legal system.

When the state of Israel was re-established in the 20th century, most aspects of Jewish history were restored. That includes the Hebrew language that had largely disappeared over the centuries. The Bet Din court was also restored but not as an independent entity but as a part of Israeli judiciary. However, its officials are top Israeli religious figures.

In modern day times, a religious court complements the other courts. A country can have more than one religious court. Each religion can have its own religious court. This court is only restricted to civil matters. It does not have a say on criminal matters. These have to be handled by the office of public prosecutor of a country, which is a government institution.




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