Q&A: Separation of Roles in a Religious Court
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Separation of Roles in a Religious Court
Question
Rabbi, lately I’ve been studying your booklet on migo, and I didn’t understand why it is important to have a separation between the different roles in a religious court? Why if the witness is credible in principle, can’t he also add information that would help clarify the truth?
Answer
My claim is that the structure of the discussion is not meant only to arrive at the truth in the optimal way. The disqualification of relatives from testimony proves this. Jewish law has additional considerations. I do not always understand them, just as I do not understand why we do not eat pork or creeping creatures. But there is a sense that this kind of separation is indeed healthier, and blurring it opens the door to various problems.