Lederman Moot Beit Din

Lederman Moot Beit Din Competition

Moot Beit Din challenges Jewish high school students to examine the ethical and moral dimensions of Jewish law through creative engagement with contemporary situations.  Each team of students prepared a written decision and presented an oral argument before a panel of rabbis, scholars, and lawyers, in response to a case.  This year’s case focused on Jewish medical ethics and end of life care. Examining Jewish legal perspectives on medicine, each Moot Beit Din team responded to questions posed about the medical treatment of an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease facing a life-threatening heart condition.

Leading up the competition, participants and their school advisors spent Shabbat together as a pluralistic community, participating in text-study sessions, prayer services, and team building activities including creative exploration of Torah texts and a scavenger hunt.  Through sharing in these experiences and the competition, students form a vibrant network of committed and intellectually curious Jewish teenagers that extends beyond the weekend.