Beth Din & the Judges – Part Two

We traveled to the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, N.Y. for the scheduled meeting with the Beth Din.

We were let in to a small foyer that connected to a dining room.When we entered the three rabbis were engaged in conversation that one of them obviously found amusing.

My father immediately asked where the other dayan(judge) was,since one of the rabbis was the defendant.

The man in the middle motioned us to the chairs in front of them.

Again my father asked where the third judge was.

The defendant spoke.He said that there was no reason to have a din torah,and that the matter can be settled if all were reasonable enough to reach a compromise.

He nodded to the other rabbis and said that they were here to make certain a reasonable settlement would be made.

My father spoke.
He faced the defendant and said”I am going to give you fifteen minutes to come up with the fifty thousand dollars you owe,if not the police will be called”.

He tried to respond to my father.
My father motioned to me & Zeidy to stand.

We headed for the door,when one of the men literally JUMPED to his feet and said “the money will be here in fifteen minutes”.

We went back to the table.I knew people were afraid of Dad,I did not realize how much.
Some seconds later,the defendant and one of the other men left the dining room and returned with a shopping bag of money.

The hundred dollar bills were stacked neatly in one thousand dollar bundles.
There were fifty stacks.
Dad picked up a few of the stacks at random to check them.
The money was returned to the bag.
We stood up.

My father said clearly-“all of you deserve to be in jail, and if I ever hear of anything like this again,there would be serious consequences.

Those thieves are all dead,but their shtiblach and their legacy of hypocrisy lives on by their heirs.