Lawyer and Ethicist to Keynote Jewish Law Day

Rabbi Elliot Dorff

The Honorable Anne E. Lazarus, a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Orphans Court Division, since 1991, explains the origin of Jewish Law Day as "a Jewish response to the annual Red Mass." The mass, she explained, is a religious service celebrated annually in the Roman Catholic Church for judges, prosecutors, attorneys, law school professors, students and government officials on the Sunday before the first Monday in October when the Supreme Court convenes. Celebrants request guidance from God for all who seek justice.

Judge Lazarus was the first Chancellor of the Louis D. Brandeis Law Society, a group for Jewish lawyers and judges. The society has co-sponsored Jewish Law Day with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and the Vaad: The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia for the past 26 years. This year's program will be presented on June 4, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at the Jewish Community Relations Building, 2100 Arch St. It is traditionally held immediately prior to Shavuot, when God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people, Lazarus explained.

Chancellor A. Michael Pratt and the Philadelphia Bar Association will offer one CLE credit for program participants. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will receive an honor during the program.

The keynote speaker will be Rabbi Elliot Dorff, rector and professor of philosophy at American Jewish University. Rabbi Dorff, who has directed the rabbinical and masters programs at AJU for 23 years, will speak on the contributions of Jewish law to Western jurisprudence, a topic taken from his new book, For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law (Jewish Publication Society, 2007).

In his role as chair of the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, he has produced papers that have shaped the movement's stance on such controversial topics as infertility treatments and end-of-life issues. His rabbinic letters on human sexuality and on poverty have become the voice of the Conservative movement on those topics.

For more information, call Rabbi David Gutterman, event co-chair, at 215-832-0865.