פרשת משפטים תש"ח - שור שנגח איש

And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

אם בן יגח או בת, “if it gores a son or a daughter;” it is most unusual for the Torah to spell out separately that the victims are either man or woman, or son or daughter; (Compare verse 28). Why did it do so here? The reason is that the owner of the ox could have argued that if the father of the child who had been killed had taken care of hjs son or daughter these would not have been where the animal could have attacked them with impunity. The Torah had to inform us that such an excuse by the owner of the ox which had killed is absolutely irrelevant. A different explanation: when the Torah speaks of free people, the status of minors and adults is exactly the same. (Talmud Baba kamma folio 43) when the victim of this ox was either a child of a slave who was still a minor, the owner of the ox is not liable.

But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and warning hath been given to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

וגם בעליו יומת AND HIS OWNER ALSO SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH by a visitation of God. You might perhaps think he shall be punished by human agency (the judges)! Scripture, however, states, (Numbers 35:21) “he that smote him (a human being) shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer” — the force of these last words is to intimate that for a murder committed by himself you shall put him to death (i. e. he suffers death by human agency as is the law regarding a murderer), but you shall not put him to death on account of a murder committed by his ox; this must be left to God (Sanhedrin 15b; cf. also Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:29:8).

וכי יגח שור AND IF AN OX THRUST — This law applies to an ox as well to any other cattle, wild beast or fowl, but Scripture mentions the ox, because it speaks of what usually occurs (Bava Kamma 54b).

ולא יאכל את בשרו AND ITS FLESH SHALL NOT BE EATEN — From what is implied in the words “the ox shall surely be stoned” do I not know that it becomes carrion, and carrion of course is prohibited to be eaten? Why then is it stated, “and its flesh shall not be eaten”? It is to intimate that even if he slaughtered the animal according to regulation after sentence of stoning has been pronounced but before it had been carried out it is forbidden to be eaten. Whence may it be proved that under such circumstances it is prohibited to derive any other benefit from it? Scripture therefore states: “and the owner of the ox is נקי” — it is a phrase such as a man uses to his fellow: that man there has gone away “empty” (נקי) of all his property (he has nothing whatever left), and he has not the slightest benefit of it. This is how the Halachic Midrash explains it (Bava Kamma 41a). However, the real sense of ובעל השור נקי, is what it literally means: the owner of the ox shall be guiltless. Because Scripture says with reference to the מועד (an ox which inflicted injury three times in succession, and about which its owner must therefore be regarded as forewarned), (v. 29) “and his owner also shall be put to death”, it was forced to state with regard to the תם (a hitherto innocuous animal, having inflicted an injury for the first time) “the owner of the ox shall be guiltless”.

אם כפר יושת עליו WHEN THERE BE SET ON HIM A RANSOM — This אם is not conditional (i. e. it does not mean “if” the heirs feel inclined to set on him a ransom) but it has the same meaning as in (Exodus 22:24) “When (אם) thou lendest money” where it has the meaning of אשר, “when” (for it is a duty to lend money to the poor and it is not optional). It is the law regarding him that the court should set on him a ransom.

ונתן פדיון נפשו HE SHALL GIVE THE RANSOM OF HIS SOUL — the value of the injured person; this is the view of R. Ishmael, R. Akiba, however, says that it means the value of the person who caused the injury (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:30).