Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS), Public Diplomacy and British Judicial Court System in Palestine
Nothing pointed to the negative aspect of British Mandatory system in Palestine (1917-1948) more than the presence of British soldiers, police and the Judicial court system. The Jewish sector largely saw the British in a very negative light. Illegal immigration from Nazi-occupied Europe, riots and disturbances in which the British authorities were seen as siding with the Arab rioters. They were seen as a balance against Jewish Nationalism (the Zionists). While the British authorities helped arm and train a local Jewish police force (the Notrim), even an embryo Jewish army, From Jabotinsky's Jewish Legion of WWI, that fought in the Gallipoli Peninsular, to the Hebrew Brigade of World War II, that fought mainly in North Africa and Italy) and what is hardly ever talked about an embryo air force that saw the training of glider pilots and the start of a civil aviation authority. The British clamped down on crimes such as smuggling and storing of weapons. A whole spectrum of punishments of sentences was meted out by old anti-semitic judges with white powdered wigs. Sentences ranged from fines, imprisonment, internment, exile to Cyprus or Africa, to capital punishment, or death by hanging. Can't get more negative than that. There was clearly a job for the Palestine Broadcasting Service's Public Diplomacy program to humanize the ustice system in Palestine.Get a judge that can engage with the Jewish sector and give him a platform to talk about the quirky cases that he has experienced brought to his court. The lighter side of the court system, with humor thrown in for good measure. This predates Rumpole of the Bailey, or Judge Judy, or Judge Dredd for that matter. Here comes the judge. His name was Schneor Zalman Cheshin.
Judge Shneor Zalman Cheshin
Cheshin was a lawyer, 1933-1936; a Justice of the Peace,1937-1944, District Tel Aviv Judge, 1944-1948; and one of five justices of the newly form State of Israel 1948-1959. In 1944, he was given a half-hour bi-monthly broadcast (roughly every two weeks), in Hebrew, to talk about his experiences in the court. The program's name was translated in the Palestine Post as a variation of " The Court Mirror: Impressions from the Law Court" In Hebrew it was named "Perakim Min Ha'vavei Hayehudi B'Beit Hamishpat" פרקים מן ההווי היהודי בבית המשפט
Only 6 or 7 of the transcripts appear in the Hagalgal magazine,out of a total of 34 talks in the fist series. Cheshin took these 34_talks and edited them into a book, in 1946, entitled in Hebrew, S'chock, V' Dema B'Beit Din
( "Laughter and Tears in the Court")
Cheshin's book Laughter and Tears in the Courtroom" was based on the transcripts of the series of thirty-four "conversations" on the topic "Episodes from the Jewish identity in the court" in the "Hebrew Hour". Cheshin edited the original transcripts, expanding the talk on several topics and adding new material from his daily work.
