[Avodah] Kategor and Sanegor

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 09:02:51AM -0500, Lisa Liel wrote:
> I see kategoras, but I can't find any source for sanegoros.  Are you  
> sure that's what the Greek original is?

Synegoros is "ombudsman" in modern Greek, so I think that's somewhere
along the right lines. Someone asked me a question this morning that
intrigued me; I'm not claiming expertise in his givens.

> Anyway, I think you answered the question yourself.  We don't have  
> lawyers in beit din.  So the metaphor comes from the surrounding Greek  
> culture.

That's bedavka my question... Since we don't have adversarial defenders
in beis din, why are we speaking as though there are angels in those
roles in beis din shel maalah? Wouldn't their absence in beis din shel
matah imply that it's not the way one should view justice? Or IOW,
what is different between the justice in beis din and the judgment in
Shamayim that makes lawyers appropriate in the latter, and not the former?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             With the "Echad" of the Shema, the Jew crowns
micha at aishdas.org        G-d as King of the entire cosmos and all four
http://www.aishdas.org   corners of the world, but sometimes he forgets
Fax: (270) 514-1507      to include himself.     - Rav Yisrael Salanter