A Rabbi’s Honour and a Bank’s ₪500 Bonus

Rabbis in Bais Din

Question

I am the rabbi of a large shul in America. Recently, I was summoned to bais din by some of my congregants who were upset with me, and I feel that the head of the bais din spoke to me with a tremendous lack of respect. He called me “adon,” a colloquial term for “Mr.,” and did not show even the slightest drop of respect for me. I understand that the dayanim are supposed to be impartial, but I really feel hurt by the way I was treated in bais din. Is there anything that can be done about this?

Rav Zafrani

First of all, I am extremely sorry that you were hurt by what happened in bais din. You are indeed an important rabbi and, generally speaking, are worthy of the greatest respect. However, in order to put this event into the proper perspective, we need to know some background information about how bais din works.

Chazal teach (Sanhedrin 6b, Yevamos 92a), “Yaakov hadin es hahar,” which literally means that the halacha makes a hole in the mountain. Even though, at times, we might not understand why halacha employs certain methodologies, we need to understand that everything halacha proposes is to get to the depth of the matter. In this light, we need to try to understand why the dayan seemingly acted rudely toward you.

The purpose of bais din is to bring Hashem’s truth into this world. As such, absolutely no side factors can come into the picture that could distort arriving at the absolute truth. How can we make sure with absolute certainty that this will happen?

The Gemara in Shevuos (30a) brings a number of drashos on the verse “B’tzedek tishpot amisecha — You shall judge your fellow fairly.” The Gemara teaches us that one of the parties should not be standing while the other is sitting, as this might distort the opinion of the dayan.

The same thing is true about a din Torah between a talmid chochom and an am ha’aretz. The dayanim are not allowed to deal with the talmid chochom first, since this could cause the other side to feel that the talmid chochom is being favored over him. Since the goal is to arrive at the absolute truth, this would detract from that goal.

Afterward, the Gemara expounds on the verse “Midevar sheker tirchok.” Most of these drashos come to teach the same principle: Both the dayanim and everyone else involved must be extremely careful in bais din not to give any impression that the rov is favoring one side over the other. For example, both parties must be dressed in clothing of the same quality, and one side is not allowed to give the impression that he has witnesses on his side if that is not really the case.

I am truly sorry that you were hurt by what took place in bais din. I have no doubt that the dayan has the greatest respect for you. All that being said, I reiterate that it is completely forbidden for the dayanim to show you the slightest drop of honor in bais din, as this could lead to weakening the other side.

Switching Bank Incenctives

Question

One of the banks in Israel is offering a 500-shekel incentive to switch from a different bank to theirs. Can I open an account in the competing bank and then immediately close it in order to get the 500 shekels from the second bank?

Rav Zafrani

There is no problem taking the 500 shekels from Bank B in order to move from Bank A. They can see how long you had the account open, and they can decide whether this fits within the guidelines of their offer.

However, to open an account in Bank A with no intention of using it, but rather to immediately close it and go to Bank B, is geneivas daas and is a Torah prohibition.