The Beth Din of America is a
Beth Din (Court of Jewish Law) which serves
Jews throughout the
United States of America as a forum for arbitrating disputes through the din torah process, obtaining Jewish divorces, and confirming Jewish personal status issues. It was founded in 1960 and reconstituted in 1994. The focus of Beth Din of America is on areas of family law, Jewish divorce and personal status, as well as adjudication of financial disputes. The Beth Din is affiliated with the
Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and is sponsored by the
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. The current director of the Beth Din is Rabbi
Shlomo Weissmann Shlomo (, Polish: Szlomo, Szlama, Szlamek, Szloma), meaning "peaceable", is a common Hebrew male given name.
The following individuals are often referred to only by the name Shlomo:
* Solomon, king of ancient Israel, according to various religiou ...
, who succeeded Rabbi
Yona Reiss
Yona (Jonathan) Reiss (born 1966 in New York City) is an American rabbi, Torah scholar, attorney, lecturer, and jurist, and the current Av Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC).
From 2008 to 2013 Reiss was the Max and Marion Grill Dean ...
in 2008.
Leadership
The Beth Din of America is overseen by a lay board of directors, although that body does not decide cases or make policy in the realm of Jewish law issues. The actual work of the Beth Din of America is overseen by its rabbinic leadership, consisting of:
* Rabbi
Gedalia Schwartz
Gedalia Dov Schwartz (January 24, 1925 — December 9, 2020) was an eminent Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek (halakhic authority) who lived in Chicago, Illinois. From 1991 to 2013, when he gave his position as Av Beth Din to Rabbi Yona Reis ...
(deceased),
Av Beis Din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
* Rabbi
Mordechai Willig
HaRav Mordechai Yitzchak HaLevi Willig (born April 25, 1947; 5th of Iyyar, 5707 on the Hebrew calendar) is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He is often known to his students as the Ramu ...
, S'gan Av Beth Din
* Rabbi
Yona Reiss
Yona (Jonathan) Reiss (born 1966 in New York City) is an American rabbi, Torah scholar, attorney, lecturer, and jurist, and the current Av Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC).
From 2008 to 2013 Reiss was the Max and Marion Grill Dean ...
, Chaver Beth Din
*Rabbi
Shlomo Weissmann Shlomo (, Polish: Szlomo, Szlama, Szlamek, Szloma), meaning "peaceable", is a common Hebrew male given name.
The following individuals are often referred to only by the name Shlomo:
* Solomon, king of ancient Israel, according to various religiou ...
, Menahel (Director)
*Rabbi Michoel Zylberman, S'gan Menahel (Associate Director), Gittin Coordinator
The day to day operations and case management of the Beth Din of America are managed by the Beth Din's operations staff, which consists of Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann (Director), Rabbi Michoel Zylberman (Associate Director) and Jordana Mondrow (Administrative Attorney). In addition, Rabbi
Itamar Rosensweig Itamar Rosensweig is a rabbi and maggid shiur at Yeshiva University in New York City and a dayan (rabbinic judge) at the Beth Din of America, where he also serves as the editor of ''Jewishprudence: Thoughts on Jewish Law and Beth Din Jurisprudence. ...
is the editor of Jewishprudence, a blog which publishes periodic updates on policies of the organization and discussions of Jewish law and beth din jurisprudence.
Publications
In 2012, the Beth Din of America launched The Journal of the Beth Din of America, a periodical that contains articles on Jewish jurisprudence and ''beth din'' practice, with a particular emphasis on the policies and practices of the Beth Din of America. Each issue of the Journal includes anonymized versions of actual ''din torah'' (arbitration) decisions issued by the Beth Din of America. Two issues of The Journal of the Beth Din of America were published. In 2019, the Beth Din of America launched ''Jewishprudence: Thoughts on Jewish Law and Beth Din Jurisprudence'', a first-in-the-nation blog dedicated to explaining Rabbinical Court process and decisions.
The goals of ''Jewishprudence'' are to make the din torah process more transparent and accessible, and to create a sophisticated forum for discussions of Jewish law as it applies to the contemporary commercial marketplace.
Rabbi
Itamar Rosensweig Itamar Rosensweig is a rabbi and maggid shiur at Yeshiva University in New York City and a dayan (rabbinic judge) at the Beth Din of America, where he also serves as the editor of ''Jewishprudence: Thoughts on Jewish Law and Beth Din Jurisprudence. ...
was named the editor of ''Jewishprudence'' in 2019.
References
{{Reflist
Jewish courts and civil law
Jewish marital law
Orthodox Judaism in the United States