Collecting debt has unfortunately become one of the most common issues litigated in Bais Din. It is also one of the most unpleasant. Typically, the va...

As the Jewish community has grown and become involved with increasingly sophisticated transactions, litigation involving Jewish parties has increased as well. When a dispute arises, people’s natural reaction is to retain an attorney to litigate in civil court. However, there is a severe and often misunderstood Halachic prohibition against litigating in civil courts, referred to as “Arkaos”. The purpose of this article is to explore the parameters of this prohibition, and to outline what steps can be taken when one finds oneself in a litigious situation. The final section of this article is dedicated to questions related to insurance litigation.

We wish to make it known that Rabbi Yisrael M. Levin, Rabbi of Beth Tefillah Emanuel Tikvah in Southfield MI, has been appointed by the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit to be its mesader gittin, the rabbi in charge of all Jewish divorce proceedings. Rabbi Levin is the only rabbi in Michigan authorized by the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit to arrange a get, a Jewish divorce, according to Jewish Law, Halachah.

The Council of Orthodox Rabbis/Vaad Harabbonim has now established a permanent Rabbinical Court Beis Din to arbitrate all monetary disputes within the Jewish community.