Bava Kamma 93: Injuries and Human Behaviour

When one person injures another, and that injury is nuanced in some way, how do we establish culpability?  What if we send a friend to be judged in Heaven?  We are told that we will be judged first.  But only if there is a rabbinical court that would judged us.  What about one who curses another?  The Gemara reminds us that when Avimelech cursed Sarah with blindness, it was her child Yitzchak who suffered the consequence.  

On a different note, the rabbis learn about human behaviour from pigeons and doves.  These birds are the one ones brought to be sacrificed.  They are also the only birds that are chased but do not chase.  Thus it is better for us to be chased than to chase.  This assumes that human beings can learn from the 'lesser' animals, that being sacrificed is a mark of honour, and that being chased is something that we choose to do.  

What if a person asks another to injure him physically - to break his hand or foot or leg?  What if the person who did the injuring argued that s/he was instructed to do so?  Is s/he liable for damages?  The rabbis argue about why a person could never sincerely ask another to harm him/herself in this way.  Perhaps we might ask someone to harm our property, but not our bodies.  I have witnessed people ask others to harm them physically, and so this is not true.  The rabbis seem to be aware of the social/emotional issues that might be facing a person who asks for such a thing.  

In fact, our rabbis even note that sarcasm might have been used and then believed.  They recognize the importance of one's tone of voice.  And if a person asks another to hit him/her on the condition that s/he is exempt, then s/he is exempt.  The rabbis note a difference between physical damage and more lasting physical damage.  Rabbi Yochanan is not so sure, however.  Why is it different to physically harm someone than to rip someone's garment?   

And can this extend to someone being irresponsible? What if a person loses or breaks an item entrusted to him/her?  When is a person negligent and when is s/he exempt from liability?  Again, the rabbis look to the timing regarding theft and liability.  Damages should be paid according to the value of an item at the time that it was lost, broken, stolen, etc. and not thereafter.  If a stolen cow has a calf or a stolen sheep is sheared, damages are paid according to the cow or sheep's value at the time of the theft.

Our daf ends with a more detailed examination of stolen wool and what might be done with that wool.  Interestingly, our North American society is so removed from the production of our clothing and textiles that it is tough to imaging so much discussion about the wool of a sheep.  Not only was wool decidedly important to our rabbis and their communities, the rabbis are teaching about more than wool.  Their conversation is about how to determine the damages paid for something that is taken and somehow devalued or improved.  That continues to be meaningful to us two thousand odd years later.