How Do I Get Out Of Jury Duty

I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa so I hadn't even heard of jury duty until I became a U.S. citizen. Then I was told that part of my civic obligation would be to serve on a jury if called upon. Well, It took 10 years but I finally received my first court summons this week.

My first reaction was, "How do I get out of this? What a burden!" The last thing I wanted to do was get on a subway and head downtown in this freezing cold weather, spend a few days in court listening to a case and then having to give my opinion that could change a person's life."

Interestingly, this past week's Torah portion lists the criteria for being a judge. They must be, "Men of substance, G-d fearers and men of truth." Men of substance” refers to wealth. A judge must be wealthy so he cannot be bribed. “Men of truth” refers to those who keep their promises and can therefore be relied on.

I said to myself, if Moses were picking the jury today, I surely would not have qualified. So, if I'm not good enough for Moses, it must be ok for me to avoid jury duty. And I began thinking of excuses not to go.

But then I remembered that the name of this week's Torah portion is Mishpatim, which means "laws." In fact, the seventh Noahide law lists the requirement to maintain courts to provide legal recourse. And as Jews we must follow the law of the land - "Dina d'malchuta dina." This includes no cheating on taxes, no lying, no swindling - obeying the law of the land in its entirety.

So off I went, in the massive snowstorm to fulfill my mitzvah of jury duty. I arrived at the courthouse to find hundreds of other potential jurors also waiting.

Now, unlike the way Moses chose his judges, jury members are picked at random and the goal is for each jury to represent a true cross-section of society. And that's exactly what I found. There were doctors, lawyers, nurses, cab drivers, security personnel, cashiers and unemployed individuals. People from assorted races, religions and nationalities. A true representation of NYC. If only Moses could see this room..

We were reminded not to view jury duty as a burden, but as an honor and service to our country, and the procedure was outlined for us: We would be called to a specific case and if we had any bias against anybody in the court, or a personal objection to anything else in the case, we would be disqualified from serving. Likewise, if any of our friends or relatives had been involved in similar cases we were told to disqualify ourselves. If we were selected, we would not be allowed to research the case online, watch the news or read the paper, or even text our friends!  

All this and more to ensure the defendant be given a fair and unbiased trial.

The Torah, too, requires, "They must judge righteously. They may not pervert justice by taking bribes and they may not show deference to one party over another. They must pursue righteous justice."

Although the selection method may be different, the end goal is the same.

In Torah a judge has to be totally and utterly impartial, as do the jurors in our court system.

Ultimately, the case was going to take a good few days, and I was excused because we have a newborn at home, but asked to return in July.

I look forward to having a second opportunity to fulfill this important mitzvah.