In 2011, Mishpacha spent two weeks with Rav Nissim Karelitz, capturing a glimpse of the Torah giant’s interactions with his family, the beis din, and the Klal.
Rav Nissim Karelitz sits with his head slightly inclined listening intently to the arguments. Suddenly he looks up and pins one of the litigants before him with a piercing gaze and asks a question. Silence fills the beis din. Just moments earlier the walls of the chamber had been shaking from the fierce debate between the two litigants. The dayanim the scribe and the avreichim doing shimush had not been fazed by the shouts; they are accustomed to it. But Rav Nissim’s question has stunned everyone into silence.
The litigant to whom the question was posed thinks for a moment and then answers briefly. His adversary’s face pales. The next question is aimed at him and his response seems forced. Rav Nissim continues to question him relentlessly. As the minutes tick away the issue under contention slowly becomes clarified and the debate moves toward a resolution. Before long a verdict is written. It fills but a few lines but it is unmistakably clear — a perfect application of the din that emerges from the Torah. The litigants leave and another pair take their place. A new debate begins an entirely new sugya filled with vastly complex details. But the Rav is focused ready to ask the probing questions that will clear away all the layers of obfuscation.
A flight of stairs with a low ceiling graying walls and a small plastic sign that reads “beis din tzedek” point the way to the second floor of Rechov Rav Shach 46.
Welcome to the beis din of HaGaon Rav Nissim Karelitz.
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