The Shulchan Aruch in Choshen Mishpat 26:2 enumerate ways of how and when a Jew is allowed to use non-Jewish courts to settle a case in distinctive circumstances. There is, however, a very important lesson that we must appreciate at the end of this week’s Torah portion of Emor regarding the ideal state the Jews should be able to live.
The Torah states: “And one who injures an animal shall pay for it. And one who strikes a person shall be put to death. One judgement shall be exacted for you, convert and resident alike, for I am the Lord, your God” (Vayikra 24:21, 22).
Rabbeinu Bachye says in pasuk 21 that the reason why “one
judgement shall be exacted” was placed next to the previous pasuk is to teach
us that the same laws for cross-examining witnesses apply for both capital
punishment and monetary cases. He goes on to say that “one judgement shall be
exacted” means the judgement of The One, The Holy One Blessed Be He. That
judgement, which was given to you at Har Sinai, [shall be used]; they are not
like the judgements of the non-Jews and their courts.
Then, on pasuk 22, Rabbeinu Bachye says:
“For I am the Lord, your G-D” is only if you do His judgement, ‘I am the Lord,
your G-D.’ We can infer from the positive the negative; for anyone that
does not act according to His judgements it is as if he excludes himself from
His G-dliness, and denies Hashem. This is because it is a known thing that all
the beliefs of the nations and their judgements are offshoots of the Torah,
while the judgements of the Torah are the main part of the Torah. When we
are not engrossed in them, it creates a chillul Hashem, a profanity of Hashem’s
Holy Name. Those that can protest, and don’t, also create a chillul Hashem.
Those who delegate honor to non-Jews are making a chillul Hashem, disgrace the
Torah that was given to us through Moshe Rabbeinu, and they waste Jewish money.
The whole world is dependent on laws, and Hashem only gave laws to the Jewish
people, as it says: “He relates His word to Yaakov, His statutes and judgements
to Israel. He did not do so for any other nation, such judgements, they know
them not. Hallelukah” (Tehillim 147:19, 20, the end of the second Hallelukah in
Pesukei DiZimra). (Click here for Hebrew text.)
Based on these two pesukim there is a very strong stance against Jews resolving
their issues in non-Jewish court. Rabbeinu Bachye lists some reasons why it is
a problem; you might cause your fellow Jew a bigger financial loss than he
deserves; you are showing more respect to non-Jews than to Jews; you are
disgracing Hashem’s Torah. However, the first thing, and what seems to be the
most important factor mentioned, is the chillul Hashem of us not being
engrossed in Torah. What does that have to do with taking a case to the
non-Jewish courts, and why is that the biggest issue and greatest disgrace of
Hashem’s name?
We see from here that the ultimate purpose of existence and the greatest
sanctifier of Hashem’s Holy Name is the in-depth study and proliferation of
Torah. By deferring to the non-Jewish courts, one is causing Jewish judges to
lose the opportunity to be engrossed in Hashem’s Torah through deliberating
judgement, which is a chillul Hashem!
By going to Jewish courts and causing the Jewish judges to be engrossed in the
nuances of Torah in order to figure out the correct halacha one is making a
Kiddush Hashem. What this also means is through just fully observing the
mitzvos anyone can make a Kiddush Hashem by being engrossed in Torah learning
in order to be sure he is observing them correctly.