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Emes and the Law seminar - Update

As in the previous years, the Emes and the Law seminar was an outstanding success. The program began with Rabbi Yissocher Frand speaking about sheker and the pitfalls of when one sinks into this mode of conducting business. Yosef Leshkowitz related a story about an assumption in the court system of Jews being uneducated and not understanding English, when in fact most Jews are extremely educated and knowledgeable. Jacob Laufer also spoke about emes and the importance of conducting oneself in this manner at all times. Supreme Court Justice David Schmidt as reported spoke about the chillul Hashem that takes place when a Jew goes to court. He related some real life experiences as to what is said about Jews when they can't solve their disputes on their own. Judge Schmidt rattled of scores of quotes from the Gemorah and Rishonim about the extreme issur of going to court. He also said that while businessmen usually use the excuse that Beis Din makes P'shoras, as a heter to go to court, the secular court settles over 96% of cases anyway. Besides that point, he said, it is the Halacha that Beis Din should make P'shoras. As a solution to this problem, the Judge said that if people would write out their business contracts according to Halacha they would not have to go to court, because the court would have to rule exactly as the Beis Din would. The last speaker, Sheldon Eisenberger, spoke about doing business the right and straight way and relayed some personal experiences about himself as an attorney. The fire Department came down several times throughout the seminar to make sure that everything was up to standard. Rabbi Zwiebel, the Chairman, announced a couple of times to make sure that the exits were not blocked because there were 'chushive' guests present that were watching for that. The seminar was video taped and audio recorded for those who could not make it.