Last week, the Faculty of Law hosted the annual Tager Prize ceremony for outstanding articles in Jewish Law.
With the generous support of Romie and Esther Tager, Bar-Ilan has established a programme in Jewish Law and its interrelation with religion in the context of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. As part of this programme, the Tager Prize is awarded to two students each year for outstanding academic papers.
This year, the judging committee received 24 articles for the award for best paper in Jewish Law. After much deliberation, the committee awarded the prize to Avraham Kalmanson for his paper, ‘The Evidential Power of Polygraph in Rabbinical Court’.
Avraham’s paper examined the issue of using polygraphs as a tool for fact finding by rabbinical courts. He showed that rabbinical courts use polygraph examinations more than civil courts, and he explored the critical voices within the rabbinical system about the use of polygraphs. The committee commented:
“Avraham’s paper is fascinating and eloquently written. It reveals a new and interesting phenomenon, analysing it at the highest level.”
The award for best student paper was given to Noam Salma for his paper, ‘The duty of disclosure among spouses: Between Law and Halakah’.
Noam’s paper was viewed as a halachic alternative to the Supreme Court’s attempts to define and set limits on the obligation to disclose information between spouses. The absence of disclosure of critical detail can create grounds for divorce and may have an impact on the division of property in the courts. To date, no research has been conducted on this subject. The committee commented:
“Noam’s paper is an excellent and innovate piece of work. We were impressed with the breadth and depth of the paper in addressing many of the issues.”
Programme sponsor and Chairman of BFBIU, Romie Tager KC, commented:
“We’re thrilled to be awarding these prizes to Avraham and Noam for such excellent papers. It’s always a delight meeting Bar-Ilan’s Law students and hearing about the first-class and original work they are doing in Jewish Law.”
