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i got mail today for grand jury duty for 8 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m in nursing school and there is no way i can miss that much school. no way no how am i doing this. how do i get out of this? (i’m only taking 13 credits which is not considered full time IIRC)
will a official letter from my school suffice or is that not good enough?
i really need help with this because its just not doable.
thank!!!!!
There must be a number to call on the notice. Call and find out what you need to submit if you can’t do it at this time.
I think in any case rabonim say that jews should stay away from doing jury, so maybe they will let you off if you say its got to do with religious, and your rabbi doesnt want you to or something..
I was called for grand jury duty. I called the clerk and asked if it was alright if I bought my 2 year old daughter along. I received a letter the next day saying I was excused.
As a citizen it is your duty to serve on a jury if called. It is because Jews think they should get out of jury duty that people like Lemrick Nelson got away with murdering Yankel Rosenbaum, and O.J. got away with murder as well. Religious people with their feet frimly planted in an understanding of right and wrong should use the common sense Hashem gave them to put criminals behind bars and allow innocent people to go free.
yentingyenta- i read some of your old post’s, you remind me of this story in Talmud Avodah Zorah 65 a-b
I will quote you the suitable parts of the story, you can fill in the unsuitable blanks (by googling it online).
Rava once sent a present to the local governor, Bar-Sheshak, on a pagan feast-day, saying, “I know that he does not worship idols,” but upon paying him a visit, he found him sitting up to his neck in a bath of rosewater while …………………………………………… Bar-Sheshak said to him, “Have you Jews anything this pleasurable in the World to Come?” Rava replied that the Jewish religion has even finer than this. Bar-Sheshak asked, “What can possibly be finer than this?” In response Rava answered that in the World to Come there will be no fear of the ruling power for Jews, while he still lives in fear of the ruling power. Bar-Sheshak argued that in his position as governor he has no fear of the ruling power.
While they were sitting together, the king’s courier arrived with the message, “Arise, the king requires your presence.” As he was about to depart – and recognizing how prescient Rava’s words had turned out to be – Bar-Sheshak said to Rava: “May the eye burst that wishes to see evil of you!'” To this Rava responded, “Amen,” and Bar-Sheshak’s eye burst.
you mentioned on a post you wear short sleeves, you seem to like the pleasures of this world, well like Bar Sheshak, you now have the ‘king’s courier’ arrive ‘with the message, “Arise, the king requires your presence.”-
As the commentators say every time King is mentioned in Esther, it means, Hashem, so to Hashem (metaphor for the American kingdom) is giving you a message, that he ‘run’s the show’, and you must obey his edicts, and in one second all your materialistic joys can end, as shown by your call up.
skiaddtict- funny, I’ve heard the opposite. I’ve heard rabbanim say that we SHOULD be on the jury and vote for acquittal if the person is a frum jew.
But I guess some rabbanim say different things than others. I’m just curious which rabbanim say what you said? Also, what is their reason for saying not to be on a jury?
Yenting- 2 things.
1. I think sending a letter from the school might do it. I got jury duty right after I came out of the hospital a couple of years ago. I knew I was emotionally ready to do something like that so I had my Dr right me up a letter and I sent it to them and everything was fine, didn’t have to go.
2. In my opinion, I would not use religion as an “excuse” because their are many religious Jews that do go to jury duty so I’m not sure they’d take that as a good enough excuse.
Good luck though!!
just postpone it.
you can talk about how much you hate the police, etc, and they’ll kick you out.
sorry i wrote that yentingyenta, i was worried about some first time dental treatment i was having, i was tired and depressed about people that hurt me emotionally that day, and i took it out on you- i never even read your post’s properly, i immediately generalized , and wanted to show off my Torah knowledge and make a female upset (i am feeling the shidduch crisis).
Please accept my sincere apologies-
You wanted to show off your Torah knowledge and you also wanted to make a female upset….?
No wonder there’s a shidduch crisis….
Happiest- I know that a rov in my town told one of my mums friends to try get out of it, and the defendant was not jewish as far as i know. I think the reasoning is that if the defendant is found guilty, we all know how the goyim quickly accuse jews and the family will hate jews because one of the jury who convicted their son/friend is jewish and they will blame it on them, which makes a lot of sense- after all, why give goyim more opportunity if you can avoid it?
Grand juries do not determine guilt or innocence. They deside whether or not sufficient evidence has been presented to determine that a crime has been committed, upon which evidence the grand jury issues an indictment. The trial jury determines guilt or innocence.
Skiaddict – I would suggest that if you do not know the facts, you should not comment because others may use your incorrect information as fact. I have heard just the opposite. That the problem is if you have a capital case and the defendant is Jewish, and he is convicted, it is a problem because we cannot condemn another Jew outside of bais din. I do not know which it is for sure but I would not make a definitive statement about it.
Secondly, Grand Jury is entirely different from regular jury. Excuses like “I hate blacks, muslims, police etc…” do not work because you are not deciding on guilt or innocence, only whether the case should go to trial. I know this because I just served recently. I had the two week service, which is every day as opposed to the longer duration which meets only twice a week. The first thing they said is that they do not care if you are biased so don’t even bother with that excuse. I tried to explain that I am a small business owner and the only person in the company and could not just close for two weeks. You know what I was told? “You will just need to make other arrangements”. The bottom line is, unless you cannot speak/understand English or you are a primary caregiver (that you have small kids at home), you will probably not be able to get out of it. I’m not sure if they care that you will miss school. The only positive I can mention is that there is a lot of free time when you serve. You may only hear an hour of actual testimony all day because it depends on when they can bring in the witnesses.
Anyhow, the best of luck, I hope you can work around it
First get all the letters you can, including one that states that for religious reasons you are never on the road after noon on Fridays. Have you Rov sign this and get it notarized. Call the number listed and try to speak to someone about this. If you are in school full time you cannot be compelled to miss school. You might get a postponement, though, rather than a dismissal. get a letter from the school as well.
I was called to jury duty one winter in a locale about 40 minutes from my house in good traffic, but typically more like an hour or hour and a quarter. I would not take such a chance on Fridays, as dismissal was at 3PM. I produced both that religious letter and a letter from my doctor truthfully stating a physical condition that I have that would make sitting for long periods of time in one place very problematic for me. I was excused.
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