Beth din

A beit din (Bet Din, bet ˈdin, Ashkenazic: beis din, plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it is invested with legal powers in a number of religious matters (din Torah, "matter of litigation", plural dinei Torah) both in Israel and in Jewish communities in the diaspora, where its judgments hold varying degrees of authority (depending upon the jurisdiction and subject matter) in matters specifically related to Jewish religious life. Rabbinical commentators point out that the first suggestion in the Torah that the ruler divest his legal powers and delegate his power of judgment to lower courts was made by Jethro to Moses (Exodus ). This situation was formalised later when God gave the explicit command to "establish judges and officers in your gates" (Deuteronomy ). There were three types of courts (Mishnah, tractate Sanhedrin 1:1-4 and 1:6): The Sanhedrin, the grand central court on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, numbering 71 Smaller courts of 23, called a Sanhedrin Ketana ("small Sanhedrin"). These courts could pass the death verdict. These existed on two levels, the one higher in standing than the other: The main cities of the tribes, had a court of 23 All towns of a minimum size (either 120 or 230 people) had to have a court of 23, which was under the jurisdiction of the tribal court The smallest court of three was found in villages with a population of fewer than 120 people. Any smaller court (including a court of three laymen) could not pass binding verdicts, and only dealt with monetary matters. Participation in these courts required the classical semikhah (rabbinic ordination), the transmission of judicial authority in an unbroken line down from Moses. Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, or at the latest the abolition of the position of Nasi in 425 CE, the transmission of semikhah has been suspended. Attempts in the 16th century to reinstate the semikhah were unsuccessful; Rabbi Yosef Karo was one of the recipients of this semikhah.