Last week, 500 attorneys and judges from the tri-state area packed the Hanover Marriott in Whippany, NJ to attend the 5th annual Jewish Law Symposium. The evening’s topic, “Ethics and Lessons from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice,” made for a lively discussion by a star-studded panel, including New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Virginia A. Long, Justin P. Walder, one of the State’s leading criminal defence lawyers and Rabbi Dr. Michael J. Broyde, Professor of Law at the Emory University School of Law. The panel was moderated by the former author of the New York Times Magazine column, “The Ethicist,” Randy Cohen.

In the five years since its inception, the Symposium has enjoyed phenomenal growth. Rabbi Sholom Lubin, founder of the Jewish Law Symposium and Executive Director of Chabad of South East Morris County, recalls reservations on the part of lawyers as to whether the initial event would be a success. Spawned out of the “Lunch and Learn” classes Lubin gave to attorneys, one lawyer quipped to him that “lawyers were too busy to dedicate an entire evening to learning.”

Nevertheless, Lubin, feeling the allure of Talmudic ethics would attract interest, pushed on. The first year of the symposium, in 2007, attracted some 60 lawyers. The following year, the number of attendees had more than doubled to 150.

Cary Cheifetz, a family law attorney and attendee of the symposiums since its launch, wasn’t surprised by the event’s success, however even he admits that “at first, no one dreamed we’d have this type of attendance.”

“It’s remarkable that you can get 500 of New Jersey’s attorneys attending a CLE class,” says Cheifetz, referring to the Continued Legal Education credits that attorneys earn to maintain their license to practice law. “Especially in light of the fact that there are many other ways to earn credits, including other events held that evening.”

Lubin credits the phenomenal success of the event to its “intriguing blend of Talmudic law and its interface with modern ethical dilemmas.”

Randy Cohen seems to agree. Though he defines himself as a ‘secular ethicist,’ Cohen notes that the discussion of Jewish thought and value brings “enormous power and eminence” to the symposium.

“The body of knowledge [in the Talmud] goes back for thousands of years,” Cohen says. “To have access to that, to see that historic tradition applied to contemporary problems is fascinating.”