NEW YORK, NY — Gossip columns may plaster the internet and paper newsstands. But is this commerce of secrets permissible according to Jewish or American tradition?
“Jewish tradition is duty-oriented,” explains Rabbi Michael Broyde, “the holder of data has no right to use it indiscriminately; it is his obligation to apply it responsibly.” Broyde is a law professor at Emory University and a member of Beth Din of America, the nation’s largest Jewish court. “American common law,” he contrasts, “protects freedom of speech,” and otherwise assumes a person’s inalienable rights. According to this expert of both legal systems, Jewish law and the American legal tradition “are at two completely different places.”
Justice Scalia, Talmudic Scholars On Privacy, Free Speech
NEW YORK, NY — Gossip columns may plaster the internet and paper newsstands. But is this commerce of secrets permissible according to Jewish or American tradition?
“Jewish tradition is duty-oriented,” explains Rabbi Michael Broyde, “the holder of data has no right to use it indiscriminately; it is his obligation to apply it responsibly.” Broyde is a law professor at Emory University and a member of Beth Din of America, the nation’s largest Jewish court. “American common law,” he contrasts, “protects freedom of speech,” and otherwise assumes a person’s inalienable rights. According to this expert of both legal systems, Jewish law and the American legal tradition “are at two completely different places.”
Not so, opined the Honorable Antonin Scalia, who believes that the American system is based closely on Christian tradition which likewise regards gossip as odious and sinful.
This friendly debate occurred not on the floor of the Supreme Court, where Justice Scalia spends much of his time, but at the offices of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP abutting Central Park. Over 300 lawyers, judges, and professionals gathered to hear the Justice and a dozen other legal experts discuss the right to privacy and individual liberties. The daylong seminar, sponsored by the Institute of American and Talmudic law, featured a smorgasbord of legal offerings based on the traditional Jewish perspective and that of the American legal system.
IAT Law, under the auspices of Chabad of Midtown, aims to, “bring the ethics and morals of the Talmud to the masses,” explains director, Rabbi Noach Heber. Since its 2001 inception, the Institute has hosted over 1,000 attorneys at its monthly seminars and annual conferences. Lawyers must complete a certain amount of credit hours (between 24 and 32 in New York state) in order to maintain licensure. Rabbi Joshua Metzger, Chabad of Midtown’s executive director, hopes that lawyers practicing the world’s youngest legal system will learn from the oldest, the 3,300 year old Jewish tradition.
“The incredible dimension that IAT offers, as opposed to other institutions where I have completed CLE credits, is that it makes an effort to analyze how Talmudic and secular law agree and differ,” states Bernard Maister, a New York city attorney who has attended several of IATL’s programs. “The organization has offered so many varied courses that I have come to realize how Talmudic law truly covers every aspect of human life.”
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Correction: Rabbi Yaffe is the dean of the Institute of American and Talmudic Law, under the auspices of Chabad of Midtown. He wasn’t just another speaker…