Commercial Rabbinical Courts Are Flourishing, Not Fading
There is no decline here, but rather a growing expansion and flourishing. Contemporary Hoshen Mishpat is far from dealing only with abstract conceptual definitions, it is alive, breathing, and affects the modern business and economic world every day. I read the remarks published in the name of the head of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein, at the launch of the book "Shamayim Chadashim." I want to preface this by saying that I did not hear the remarks directly from his mouth, but am relying on the reports that were published. However, the many people who approached me after reading them oblige me to address this important issue, and the major question of the place of commercial rabbinical courts today in the State of Israel.
The remarks published stated that the world of commercial rabbinical courts suffers from a lack of practical relevance, mainly because of the existence of civil legal systems and the absence of independent enforcement tools. As a result, it was claimed, Hoshen Mishpat has turned from a dynamic body of rulings responsive to reality into a theoretical, scholarly field detached from life. However, as someone privileged to sit as head of court and manage the "Eretz Hemdah-Gazit" network of rabbinical courts, I must say that I was greatly surprised, because the truth is not a tragedy, but the opposite, reality shows unprecedented flourishing in the world of monetary law and recourse to rabbinical courts.
Everyday reality tells a completely different story from what was said. Hundreds of cases are opened every year in our court network alone, which includes seven branches and spans from Haifa in the north to Beersheba in the south. We handle cases managed by the largest law firms, and monetary claims worth tens of millions of shekels, on complex and difficult matters. If that were not enough, the courts themselves refer cases to us, and recently we even received a case referred by an Arab judge from the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, who recognized and appreciated the activity and professionalism of the commercial rabbinical court system. In other words, there is no decline here, but rather increasing strength and flourishing, and contemporary Hoshen Mishpat is far from dealing only with abstract conceptual definitions, it is alive, breathing, and affects the modern business and economic world every day.
The main key point in Rabbi Lichtenstein's remarks is the question of coercive power and enforcement. According to what was said, it appears that the rulings of commercial rabbinical courts remain powerless in the absence of an enforcement system that can compel the debtor to comply. However, these things are not correct. Our courts, and many others, operate under the state Arbitration Law, and the parties sign a formal and binding arbitration agreement under state law. This means that the system has very strong teeth. If one party refuses to comply with the ruling, the other can apply for a procedural and technical confirmation of the ruling in court, and then approach the enforcement authorities and the Execution Office, which will act to enforce it just like any state court judgment.
Moreover, trust in the professionalism of the courts crosses sectoral lines. As I said, civil courts themselves frequently refer complex cases to us out of recognition of the efficiency and quality of the judicial management, and the scope of activity and the nature of those turning to us continue to grow. The old perception that commercial rabbinical courts deal only with local or small disputes belongs to the past. We handle dozens of cases at once, many of them involving large-scale commercial matters worth millions of shekels, with large companies, entrepreneurs and businesspeople involved, alongside medium-sized cases and simple disputes between individuals.
Because of the handling of so many complex cases, the judges of the court are required to display unprecedented halakhic creativity, as evidenced by the hundreds of rulings published on the network's website, which testify to the new issues and questions that have almost never been discussed in halakhic literature because they arise from the ever-changing reality of the practical world. Right now, we are in the middle of writing a complex ruling dealing with property law and breach of contract in connection with leads and internet landing pages, a contemporary commercial issue that may never have come before any of the decisors of past generations, early or later authorities, in this form.
Questions about copyright in the age of artificial intelligence, corporate law, and high-tech partnerships regularly come before us. They require us to develop new rulings, of course grounded in the fundamental principles of the great scholars of previous generations and in a deep understanding of the new economic situations. There is certainly still much to do, and the great vision is that Torah law will become the official default by which the state's citizens are judged. But the distance from the goal does not indicate weakness in the present, rather it reflects the great challenge before us. On the ground, a new, strong and growing level of Torah law is being built.
It is very important that the public know this, so that the recourse to commercial rabbinical courts will continue to increase. This is one of the great tasks of our generation, in building the spiritual foundation of the nation, which is already growing stronger every day in the practical world of the commercial rabbinical courts.
Rabbi Asaf Har Nooy, Av Beit Din and director of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit network of rabbinical courts
