Day 64 ¨C Initiating a Din Torah
????????????? The Torah requires that monetary disputes be adjudicated by a beis din, rabbinical court.? It is permissible to exert social pressure on an individual to convince him to agree to participate in a din Torah (court case) before a
beis din.? However, social pressure that could cause embarrassment is not an option if the person is in the category of amisecha, your fellow (see Day 55).? A person who erroneously believes that he is justified in taking someone else¡¯s money must be set straight,
but he is not a mumar (rebellious sinner).? Embarrassment is not a recourse, but one may discuss the matter with anyone who can influence the person and explain that the person is involved in a monetary dispute and should be persuaded to come before a beis
din.
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Unlike an individual, a beis din may publicize the fact that an individual refuses to abide by its ruling or has ignored a summons to appear before it.? As previously mentioned, social pressure is often the only means by which rabbinical courts can enforce
their decision.
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? SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON ? Causing Others To Sin ?
Our Sages speak harshly of a ¡°sinner who causes others to sin.¡±? ¡°Causing another to sin is worse than killing him. For by killing him, one denies him this world, but by causing him to sin, one denies him both this world and the next¡± (Sifre, Devarim 23:8).
Thus, to relate forbidden information and cause another to listen to and accept loshon hora is to commit a most serious offense [aside from the transgression of numerous Scriptural laws for speaking the forbidden].
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One should also take note of the emphasis which the Torah places on caring for the needs of one¡¯s fellow. For example, we are forbidden to ignore another Jew¡¯s lost object. Even if the object is worth but a few cents, and even if the owner is unaware of its
loss, nevertheless, we are commanded to pick it up and return it to him. Now, if the Torah commands us to be so concerned with our fellow¡¯s material possessions, which have value only in this temporal world, how much more must we be concerned with matters
affecting his soul, which lives on eternally. We dare not harm him spiritually by causing him to sin
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