Comparing Talmudic, Secular Law

Canadian Jewish News

In at least one way, the practice of law and the study of Talmud bear a resemblance to each other: both require continuing education.

As of Jan. 1, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the governing body for the profession in Ontario, has mandated that lawyers must put in at least three hours of study as part of its Continuing Professional Development requirement.

To help lawyers meet the requirement, Chabad Lubavitch of York Mills is teaming up with a group of attorneys to sponsor a program that focuses on professional responsibility, ethics and practice management – with a talmudic twist. The program was held May 9 at the downtown law offices of Fraser Milner Casgrain, said Rabbi Levi Gansburg, director of the Chabad program at Bayview Avenue and York Mills Road.

The program, titled Law Conference, Comparing Modern and Talmudic Legal Systems, has received advanced accreditation by the Law Society and was expected to attract about 100 lawyers, Rabbi Gansburg said. They will participate in back to back sessions that will focus on “reporting misconduct – a talmudic and secular law comparison,” and “encouraging alternative dispute resolution where appropriate – two models.”

Presenters include retired judge Harvey Spiegel, lawyers Tanya Goldberg, Leah Price and Barry Leon, as well as Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, scholar in residence at Harvard University.

Rabbi Gansburg said the idea for the conference came from a couple of lawyers who take part in some of the programs offered by Chabad. After the Law Society approved the topics, Chabad sent out a mass e-mail to hundreds of Jewish lawyers, and “our response was overwhelming,” Rabbi Gansburg said. “Many said, ‘I’ve been waiting to do this, to study Talmud in a comparative law setting.’”

Rabbi Gansburg, who worked in New York for 10 years before returning to Toronto, said continuing education legal programs with a Judaic content are “very big” in the United States. Not only do they permit Jewish lawyers to get in touch with talmudic legal reasoning, they facilitate professional networking in a Jewish setting.

Rabbi Yaffe, who is dean of the Institute of American and Talmudic Law in New York, has participated in many similar programs in the United States, even holding discussions on the two legal systems with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Rabbi Gansburg said.

The Talmud, he continued enthusiastically, “is brilliant. It sharpens the mind. It’s one of the most ancient forms of law. It comprises thousands of pages of dialogue dissecting the law and that’s what lawyers do. They analyze, and the Talmud is known for that.”

Participating in the program expands Chabad’s profile in the community and brings attention to its other programs. “We’re here to build the future of Jewish life for the Bayview community,” he said.

Chabad of York Mills offers a preschool program for 10 children, a Sunday Hebrew school for 60 kids, Shabbat services that attract 50 to 60 people, a monthly Jewish women’s circle with about 80 participants, adult education programs, social events, and a bar and bat mitzvah club, among other activities. About 350 families have participated in at least one Chabad program at the facility, Rabbi Gansburg said.