Justices, Rabbis, Discuss Law

Westmount, Quebec – A panel consisting of several Quebec Superior Court Justices, Chabad rabbis, law and medical professionals presided at a unique day- long conference at Chabad of Westmount last Tuesday.

The QJ Law Symposium attracted an overflow crowd of attorneys to the Chabad Westmount center.

The symposium offered a study of Jewish doctrine and Quebec Law on emerging significant legal and ethical conundrums facing society today. Issues addressed included: using the courts to solve the Agunah crisis, ethical dilemmas in fertility treatments and moral challenges in end of life care issues.

Rabbi Yossi Shanowitz, one of the panelists who also serves as director of the center, highlighted that issues which are only of late coming to the fore in civil law, were already addressed in theory 2,000 years ago in the Talmud.

Participants were also impressed by the caliber of the presentations at the symposium. “Here today you see an engagement between the secular law and Jewish law” stated noted human rights attorney Michael Bergman, “and Jewish law is not afraid of this engagement; it welcomes it.” Bergman also lauded Chabad for organizing the event, saying it affirmed that: “ Jewish law believes in diversity of opinion, intellectual dexterity and intellectual acuity and that Chabad of Westmount welcomes this.”

The symposium on Quebec and Jewish Law is part of the ongoing Chabad of Westmount Irwin Beutel Torah and Law Seminars. The Series presents qualitative outreach Jewish educational programs to the community. The QJLaw symposium is accredited by the Quebec Bar for mandatory continuing legal education.