Schoenfeld v. Ochsenhaut

OPINION OF THE COURT

David B. Saxe, J.

The principal issue that I must resolve in this novel small claims case is the following: Does the performance by a stranger of what is alleged to be either a duty or a “mitzvah” (a good deed) (see Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice [NY Jewish Theological Seminars of Amer., 1979, p 229]) under Jewish law — viz., arranging for the burial of their deceased Jewish neighbor who appeared to have no surviving relatives to perform this function and incurring the obligation for the costs of burial — require the decedent’s newly discovered surviving…