New York – Noted Mishpacha Magazine’s Yom Tov issues have become highlights in the Jewish literary year for hundreds of thousands of readers, who look to the ‘blockbuster’ issues for a mix of inspiration, information, insight and entertainment with yomtov’dike taam.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
A cornerstone of the new issue is a glimpse into the beis din and life of Rav Nissan Karelitz, who allowed Mishpacha’s Eliezer Schulman a rare opportunity to spend two weeks in the presence of the gadol, capturing a glimpse of the Torah giant’s interactions with his family, the beis din, and the Klal
Read below
His words are measured and few, but his authority is immense. Rav Nissim Karelitz — appointed by Rav Shach to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah over forty-five years ago — still maintains a grueling daily schedule.
Rav Nissim Karelitz sits with his head slightly inclined, listening intently to the arguments. Suddenly, he looks up and pins one of the litigants before him with a piercing gaze and asks a question. Silence fills the beis din. Just moments earlier, the walls of the chamber had been shaking from the fierce debate between the two litigants. The dayanim, the scribe, and the avreichim doing shimush had not been fazed by the shouts; they are accustomed to it. But Rav Nissim’s question has stunned everyone into silence.
The litigant to whom the question was posed thinks for a moment and then answers briefly. His adversary’s face pales. The next question is aimed at him, and his response seems forced. Rav Nissim continues to question him relentlessly. As the minutes tick away, the issue under contention slowly becomes clarified, and the debate moves toward a resolution. Before long, a verdict is written. It fills but a few lines, but it is unmistakably clear — a perfect application of the din that emerges from the Torah. The litigants leave, and another pair take their place. A new debate begins, an entirely new sugya, filled with vastly complex details. But the Rav is focused, ready to ask the probing questions that will clear away all the layers of obfuscation.
Forty-three Years of Torah Law
A flight of stairs with a low ceiling, graying walls, and a small plastic sign that reads “Beis Din Tzedek” point the way to the second floor of Rechov Rav Shach 46.
Welcome to the beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz.
On a wall across from the reception desk is a list of instructions for opening a file: ask the secretary for a form; enter your name, address, and telephone number; and describe the nature of the complaint — damages, monetary claims, unpaid debt, and so forth. That’s all it takes, and deliberately so. Rav Nissim is committed to making the beis din process as painless as possible.
The beis din employs thirty-six dayanim. “Employs” is a theoretical term, because dayanim are unpaid — they don’t even get schar batalah (the amount they could earn if otherwise employed in the hours they devote to the beis din). Most of the dayanim sit on one of ten panels consisting of three judges, adjudicating cases throughout the week in morning and evening shifts. Each panel has its own area of expertise. Most deal with monetary cases, but some handle divorce or conversion. It is the largest nongovernmental beis din, handling approximately 100 cases per month.
The beis din has been active for forty-three years under Rav Nissim’s auspices. He selects the dayanim himself, using criteria known only to him. What is known is that Rav Nissim maintains that a moreh hora’ah must be fluent in all four sections of the Shulchan Aruch. “An expert in one area cannot answer the public’s questions,” he is wont to say. “What will he do if he is presented with a question that he knows nothing about?”
The unique character of the beis din emerges in several rules that Rav Nissim set forth, and that no one has ever challenged. Aside from the rule that dayanim are unpaid, he also instituted that they should sit on the same level as the litigants, rather than on elevated platforms. Beis din employees must be able to handle difficult people. When the beis din’s secretary was hired, Rav Nissim told him, “Embittered people come here, and you must relate to them with great patience.”
Rav Nissim himself sits on a panel of dayanim each Monday. He used to join on Thursdays as well, but after he suffered a heart attack and stroke fifteen years ago, his doctors instructed him to curtail his activities in the beis din and appear only on Mondays — and even then, only from early morning until noon.
“The Wise Man of the Jews”
Few people are privy to the wide array of questions and decisions that require the Rav’s input on a daily basis. They include particularly complex halachic decisions (Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein relates that his father-in-law, Rav Elyashiv, often instructs people to bring their halachic queries to Rav Nissim), as well as important matters brought to him by public figures. (After the recent massacre in Itamar, for instance, Rav Nissim was asked to determine whether Arab laborers should still be employed in chareidi cities.)
Questions also arrive from all over the world. Answers are often delivered in writing, but some questions are answered over the telephone. Family members admit that they can never predict when Rav Nissim will respond in writing and when he will answer verbally.
Answers from Rav Nissim — both in the beis din and to individuals — are short and to the point, and even when he does explain himself, he keeps it brief. “Halachic rulings are not the place for writing shtiklach Torah,” he once explained. In writing, too, in contrast to other batei din whose rulings are issued with lengthy explanations presenting every possible side of the case, rulings from Rav Nissim’s beis din are limited to the most essential details.
Being inundated with sensitive questions is not new to him. Although he maintains a relatively low profile, he has been on the front lines of every issue that the chareidi population has faced for the last half-century, earning the admiration of the gedolim of that era in the process. Already in 5708/1948, the Ponovezher Rav dispatched Rav Nissim to convince then–prime minister David Ben-Gurion to withdraw on the issue of conscription of yeshivah students into the army. In 5714/1954, the Chazon Ish, Rav Nissim’s uncle, was directing halachic inquiries to him, and in 5724/1964, the Ponovezher Rav demonstrated his admiration for the budding gadol by honoring him with siddur kiddushin at a family wedding. Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, the great mashgiach, would advise chassanim to use Rav Nissim as their rav, posek, and advisor in all marriage-related matters.
Rav Nissim Karelitz has also become a default address for difficult divorce cases where both sides stubbornly refuse to give in and no resolution is in sight. The Rav — whom Rav Shmuel Wosner refers instructions to his family. Over the course of two weeks that we spent with his family, few details regarding his decisions were revealed.
This article is republished with permission from Mispacha Magazine
Read the full story here (WORD)
I honestly cannot wait to hold their Yom Tov issue in my hands, its always a delight
Mishpacha just took it to the next level.
There seems to be a simple elegance to the beis din he operates and its success is measured in the large number of cases they adjudicate. In an ideal world, we might hope for a bit greater transparency (e.g. what are the criteria by which dayanim are selected, how are cases vetted to assure the dayanim have no “conflicts of interest”, etc.). Overall, however, this seems to work well and provides a viable option to reliance on the civil court system for many non-criminal cases and disputes.
R Nissans beis din is the flagship beis din, fair, honest and efficient the way it ought to be. My son in law had a real estate case that was handled there, and both sides were happy at the end.
With all the jewish magazines out there, Mishpocha is the best.