Malpractice Suits Against Rabbis 97

in all other activities of the minister except marriage, the state has no authority. Nevertheless, the minister does a great deal of coun­seling and in this activity, he often overlaps the work of the psy­chiatrist who is a professional, licensed by the state and subject in a suit to punishment by the state. Therefore, when the minister in his counseling does psychiatric work, it is there that there would be the chief ground for possible malpractice suits.

Therefore, our specific question here is: To what extent does Jewish tradition hold a rabbi liable for harm resulting from his counsel? Actually there is some sort of liability, due to the historic function of the rabbi as judge. If a rabbi is part of a court(a bet din) in the case of some financial dispute and gives a wrong decision, then, if this decision cannot be reversed when the harm due to the mistake has already been done, there are circumstances in which the judge(i.e., the rabbi) must make up for the damage from his own property(Hoshen Mishpat 25). Therefore we would say that if some Jewish businessman would bring a case before a bet din of rabbis and a wrong decision was given, there are indeed, in Jewish law, certain circumstances under which the rabbi is liable to make restitution. But, even so, the businessman would not need to insti­tute a malpractice suit in the civil courts, since Jewish law under which the cam was heard already provides for the restitution. But actually this situation is rare. Few people bring their business dis­Putes nowadays to a bet din and if they do, then, considering the long and detailed development of Jewish law, there is almost no likelihood of such liability being incurred by the rabbi-judge. ~The only potential cases in which a modern malpractice suit is likely to occur is in the field of family or personal counseling. We must therefore ask: Is such counseling an inherent function of the rabbi? It must be understood at the outset that personal and family counseling is indeed an essential part of the work of the Christian ministry. At the very beginning of the Christian min­istry, Jesus said to disciples: Feed my sheep.(John 21:16). Since that beginning, the guidance of each individual Christian was a Central responsibility of the pastor, whose very title means“the shepherd.” The church has a name for this individual counseling. [tis an historic name for an historic function, cura animarum(the healing of the spirit). In the Lutheran Church the term used is See­lensorge, The Latin and German terms could be translated into the

reek as“psychiatry.” The“healing of souls” is the essential task of the Christian minister. So if a Christian minister errs in his