Weber Wins N. American Jewish Law Competition

/SPECIAL FOR THE AJT/

 

For the fifth time in six years (the last three consecutively), The Weber School has won first place in the Moot Beit Din (Jewish law) competition.

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This year’s competition was held in Kansas City with 22 Jewish high schools from across America and Canada competing. The Weber team consisted of Daniel Abravanel, Hillel Brenner, Zavi Feldstein, Ilan Palte, and alternates Adina Karpuj and Liliana Brown.

The annual competition is under the auspices of RAVSAK, an umbrella organization for Jewish education. The students are presented with a factual case presenting a complex problem, to which they are to apply halacha (Jewish law) and ethics based on their own research to resolve the matter.

The issue revolved around tza’ar ba’alei chayim (cruelty to animals) and, specifically, the consumption of kosher industrially raised versus free grazing cattle and chicken.

The students write a detailed opinion, supported by Jewish textual sources (primarily Talmudic and medieval and modern rabbinic response), for which they are evaluated by a panel of rabbinic judges.

Thereafter, the team from the school must defend that position before such rabbinic panel, which questions them following their respective presentations.

It is this in-person defense which took place in Kansas City, after which The Weber School was declared the winner for excellence in written opinion and oral defense. Judaics teacher Marc Leventhal serves as the adviser to the Weber team.

The Weber School, an academically acclaimed private Jewish high school located just north of the city in Sandy Springs, is known for its students’ personal and academic achievements.

Weber graduates are annually accepted into the nation’s top colleges and universities and routinely receive between $1.5-3 million in merit scholarship support. Our notable alumni include a Fulbright Scholar, an Ingram Scholar, a Danforth Scholar, several Bronfman Fellows, and currently two University of Georgia Foundation Fellows.