Haaretz
What happens to a person who does not want to obey din Torah - that is, judgment according to Jewish law? A resident of Efrat, Alon Levy, who refused to accept such a judgment, was told by the rabbi of that West bank town, Shlomo Riskin, that he would be ostracized and would no longer be allowed to work there.
The affair began during the November 2008 elections for the Efrat local council, when an ugly war of words broke out between two activists representing opposing lists: Levy and Dan Lubitz. The latter sent a number of letters to local residents, defaming Levy. In response, Levy sued Lubitz for libel in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. Lubitz did not submit a defense brief and in December 2008, the court ruled that he must pay Levy compensation amounting to NIS 300,000. [...]
What happens to a person who does not want to obey din Torah - that is, judgment according to Jewish law? A resident of Efrat, Alon Levy, who refused to accept such a judgment, was told by the rabbi of that West bank town, Shlomo Riskin, that he would be ostracized and would no longer be allowed to work there.
The affair began during the November 2008 elections for the Efrat local council, when an ugly war of words broke out between two activists representing opposing lists: Levy and Dan Lubitz. The latter sent a number of letters to local residents, defaming Levy. In response, Levy sued Lubitz for libel in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. Lubitz did not submit a defense brief and in December 2008, the court ruled that he must pay Levy compensation amounting to NIS 300,000. [...]
Good to see Traditional Judaism returning. It shoudl also be applied to those who refuse to give Gittin.
ReplyDeleteIs that the Shlomo Riskin that some weeks ago made positive remarks about joshkele?
ReplyDeleteHavent heard even a scent of excommunication from any leaders dealing with any 'secular court' issues? Is this a first?
ReplyDeleteObviously Eddie is an ignoromous. Most cases today involving wome who don't receive gittin are cases where the women have gone to secular court instead of bais din, have a status of being mechalel sheym shomayim and are me'agen themselves and their husbands. The am ho'ratzus out there is frightening.
ReplyDeleteCounter to Eddie said...
ReplyDeleteObviously Eddie is an ignoromous.
====================
Your comment is rather obnoxious and you totally misunderstood what Eddie what say.
Future comments in this vein will simple be rejected
I guess this won't be posted because it goes against a lot of beliefs of what frum is.
ReplyDeleteI have found that many batei din in the United States are corrupt by American standards. That means they are unduly influenced by politics, are easily intimidated, do little research, and show favor to those who have contacts to the dayanim. I don't know if this is considered corrupt by halachic standards.
Add to this the lack of public defenders in batei din. All in all, it goes against the grain of equal opportunity that Americans accept as being part of the fabric of justice.
I have personally seen this repeatedly, from the batei din corrupted by tropper to many other cases that, if mentioned, would help identify me. I have even seen cases where well meaning batei din have backed off on psak that they already published when a dayan was being threatened of being smeared for nothing wrong.
I have just seen too many cases where justice was thrown out the window for political and other purposes.
Rav Eidensohn, you are writing a book on abuse. In so many instances, bais din was more interested in maintaining the operation of a yeshiva than ruling against a molester or turning him in. But in my opinion the lion's share of frum who are now going to secular authorities to deal with these cases are not going because their rabonnim told them to go. First they started going, and now rabbonim are coming out of the woodwork saying it's OK, trying to maintain their authority.
I'm not sure if the whole setup of bais din is slanted toward unequal representation. I tend to doubt it. But that is the way it is today in the US.
From what I have read, it might not be that way for CER. Let's see if Rav Dunner survives the onslaught of the corrupt rabonnim. But even if he does, it will be because the CER set themselves up to be powerful enough to combat the bad guys. It won't be because the system is set up to promote justice, at least in my opinion.
In the case of Rav Riskin, here was one case in which he decided to get involved for whatever reason. Just that fact shows that not all cases are equal, again in my opinion.
The recent attempts to institute a Sanhedrin in Israel had me depressed for days. That would be like the centralized control of EJF, without any controls of answering to the populace.
Without a gadol hador to change the system and protect the populace, the corrupt power seekers will continue to run wild. I think that is more than just my opinion.
Rabbi Riskin is closely associated with the Yad Lisha organization, which encourages women to go to court instead of to a din torah.
ReplyDeleteRiskin's site: http://www.ohrtorahstone.org.il/
Yad Lisha is listed on their sidebar and the 'Institutions' link.
Here is an article on their work, and clear animosity towards the halacha and rabbinical courts: http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/agunot/haaretz/index.html
Riskin is not suddenly concerned for Halacha, or he would excommunicate his feminist associates.