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February 12, 2010
The local Jewish legal eagles
Vancouver’s beit din provides an integral service to the community.
DEENA LEVENSTEIN
Did you know that going to the Jewish court, the beit din, in order to solve disputes can be quicker and cheaper than going to a civil court?
Rabbi Avraham Feigelstock, who initiated the creation of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of British Columbia, or beit din, recently explained the workings of the council in an interview with the Independent.
In 1982, when Feigelstock arrived from Montreal, where he had been a part of the local beit din, he saw the need for a beit din in the Lower Mainland.
A beit din needs a minimum of three rabbis in order to function and, so, Rabbi Mordecai Feuerstein and Rabbi David Bassous, respectively, the rabbis of Schara Tzedeck and Beth Hamidrash at the time, joined him on the “bench.”
According to halacha (Jewish law), there should be a beit din in every Jewish community. The source can be found in this week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim (Laws). The first sentence in the parasha reads: “And these are the ordinances that you shall place before them.” (Exodus, 21:1) Rashi, an 11th-century commentator on the Torah, explained that the Torah uses the words “before them” in order to teach that Jews must bring their cases before Jewish judges. Bringing a legal case to do with Jewish law before non-Jewish courts is a chilul Hashem (desecration of G-d’s name), according to Rashi.
The choice to use a beit din over a civil court is a significant one, explained Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, who served on the Vancouver beit din from 1991 to 1999, while he was the rabbi of Congregation Beth Hamidrash, and who now lives in Israel.
“I think that a person who comes more from a religious orientation understands that the Torah is a whole way of life. It’s not just the way of life that teaches us how to keep Shabbat or how to make Kiddush or if my chicken is kosher or not,” Benarroch said. “It’s a whole way of life that addresses every part of our living, whether it’s on a personal level or if it’s on the level of the nation of Israel. So, when the Torah has a whole system that includes a whole area of civil law – that’s this parasha, Mishpatim – then basically it’s telling us that, here too, the Torah has something to say about how Jews can live fruitful lives in the world.”
Both Feigelstock and Benarroch stressed the high moral standard to which Jewish law adheres. “The Jewish system invokes compassion, it invokes compromise,” said Benarroch.
“We have a beautiful system, which gives us values and morals. It’s almost giving us a map and helping guide us through the issues of life,” Feigelstock explained.
Feigelstock, to this day the head of the council, expanded on the different functions that the Jewish court has played in the local community. The council created an Orthodox conversion program – something that didn’t yet exist in Vancouver at the time. The procedures and policies of the program were developed with the help of rabbis in Israel, Montreal and New York. Feigelstock explained that the Vancouver beit din’s conversion is accepted in Israel, an important fact to many who choose to convert to Judaism.
The beit din also facilitates divorces. In order to perform a proper Jewish divorce, an official scribe must be flown in, which ends up as the main expense that those divorcing incur.
These two processes – conversion and divorce – are the main cases that, according to Jewish law, can only happen in the presence of a beit din. But the beit din can also assist community members with many other issues, for example, in cases of Jewish identity (if someone is not sure if they are Jewish according to Jewish law), if a man is refusing to give his wife a get (divorce), financial disputes between two Jews and myriad other problems that arise.
The beit din also has had a profound impact on the realm of local kosher food. Since 1982, it has been a main supplier of information about kashrut and has established its own kosher certification, BCK (B.C. Kosher), which is “recognized in the entire world, whether to the right or the left,” said Feigelstock.
The Vancouver beit din has also introduced new policies into the halachic world, according to Feigelstock. As an example, he told a story about a company that requested the BCK certification on its raw cashews. At the time, raw cashews were not considered a kashrut issue, but BCK decided to take a close look at the production line, going as far back in the process as possible. When the rabbi visited the cashew farms in Vietnam, he found that, before the cashews were shipped to packaging plants, they were boiled in the pots of the local farmers in order to remove the tough outer shell and that these pots could have been used for non-kosher food.
Current members of the beit din include Feigelstock, Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt of Schara Tzedeck and Rabbi Ilan Acoca of Beth Hamidrash. All community members are welcome to access this resource with questions about Jewish ritual or for legal disputes. Feigelstock explained that the beit din charges to cover the costs of the legal services but not for the rabbis’ services.
The Orthodox Rabbinical Council of British Columbia office can be reached at 604-731-1803.
Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer in Jerusalem. Visit her blog at habitza.com.
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