The Beis Din And The Arab

An interesting story happened recently involving a beis din and a non-Jew.

Beis din is typically meant to be a place where two jews settle their disputes. it is not meant for non-Jews, as non-Jews don't follow the same set of laws as Jews do. Non-Jews are not bound by the Shulchan Arukh.

Yet the situation of a non-jew in beis din discussed is typically referring to a case where a Jew is suing the non-jew. It does not make sense for this to happen in a beis din, as why would the non-Jew even agree to have the case heard there.

That makes the following story, as reported by Bechadrei, even more unusual.

The story goes that Jibril Chushiya, an Arab resident of Hebron, worked for a number of months for a Jewish kablan. The Jewish employer paid Chushiya's salary regularly, but unfortunately for Chushiya the checks always bounced.

After many months, Chushiya confronted the kablan, saying he was owed 40,000 NIS of salary that was never paid due to bounced checks. The kablan apologized, but said that he was bankrupt and had no money to pay him with, however he would try to pay up sometime in the future.

Chushiya decided to not put up with it any longer. He was going to sue the kablan for his money.

Looking to the courts, he realized was futile. As he began to prepare to file his suit, he realized that going through the courts would take a very long time,along with astronomical expenses, and that was not the route he wanted to go. Chushiya figured he had a better chance of seeing justice in a timely fashion by suing the kablan in beis din.

So he sued. In beis din.

After a number of sessions, the beis din decided the case in favor of Chushiya, against the kablan. The kablan would have to pay his debt, and they set up a payment plan that would allow him the ability make his payments.

Rav Ariel Bareli, director of the beis din, said that the fact that an Arab turned to beis din for din torah is the fulfillment of the vision of the end of days..

Very unusual case.