Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
The Torah has a vision for fairness and law to govern all of human society, so people don’t take the law into their own hands.
In our parashah, Moshe talks about how he appointed judges for this purpose. In fact, the mitzvah to create a fair system of courts is one of the seven mitzvot that apply to all nations, not just the Jewish people (Sanhedrin 56a). In Jewish law, a court is called a בֵּית דִּין (beit din). The Mishnah describes different levels, depending on the number of judges:
Beit Din of 3: These courts mostly dealt with money issues, like if someone committed robbery or caused damage to someone else’s property (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:1).
Beit Din of 23: These courts were able to judge matters of life and death (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:4).
Beit Din of 71: Also known as the Beit Din Ha-Gadol, this court decided the most important cases facing the Jewish people, like if the כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל (kohen gadol, high priest) was on trial, or if a decision was needed about going to war (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:5-6).
You might have noticed that every beit din had an odd number of judges! This ensured that the majority could rule, and judges would never be split equally on a decision (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:6).
Beit Din Today
Today, a person might go to a beit din for a number of reasons.
- If people are disagreeing about money, they can decide to have a beit din help resolve their issue using Jewish law, rather than going to a secular court.
- Some religious ceremonies require a beit din of three. For example, when a person joins the Jewish people, the גֵּרוּת (geirut, conversion) ceremony requires a beit din.
- Before Rosh Hashanah, many communities have the custom to perform הַתָּרַת נְדָרִים (Hatarat Nedarim). In this ritual, people say a formula that frees them from any vows they took in the past year. Hatarat Nedarim is always said in front of a group of three people, who serve as a beit din.
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