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MISHPATIM- 5760 - 2000
"From Seemingly Obscure Laws, the Torah Teaches the Ultimate
Value of the
Sanctity of Human Life"
Rabbi
Ephraim Buchwald
In
this coming week's parasha, Parashat Mishpatim, which
means "laws," the Almighty instructs Moshe to
set before the People of Israel the entire structure of
civil jurisprudence. Parashat Mishpatim contains 53 of
the 613 commandments in the Torah-- 23 positive and 30
negative commandments.
Given
the Torah's antiquity, the extent and breadth of these
laws is quite remarkable: the parasha begins with laws
concerning the rights of persons, the Hebrew manservant
and maidservant, and continues with laws concerning murder,
kidnaping, personal injuries, injuries by beasts, offenses
against property, theft, damage by cattle, fire, laws
of safe-keeping, moral offenses, seduction, witchcraft,
sodomy, polytheism, oppression of the weak, loans and
pledges, truth and impartiality in justice, love of enemy...quite
an impressive list, for a very ancient people. While some
of these laws seem to be well ahead of their time, like
oppression of the weak, impartiality in justice, others
seem to be quite primitive, which of course raises the
question of the "eternal" relevance of the Torah.
In
my discussion, I would like to focus on one law from this
week's parasha -- death caused by an animal, a pretty
rare occurrence in contemporary life, and attempt to explain
its modern day relevance.
In
Exodus 21:28, we read, "V'chi yee'gof shor et
eesh o' et eesha v'mait, sa'kol yee'sa'kail ha'shor, v'lo
yay'ah'chail et b'saro, u'vaal ha'shor nah'kee,"
If an ox shall gore a man or a woman, and that person
shall die, the ox shall surely be stoned, its flesh may
not be eaten and the owner of the ox shall be innocent.
The Torah in this instance is referring to a case of a
domesticated animal. Being that the animal has no prior
history of violence, the owner could not be expected to
be particularly vigilant. Nevertheless, the Torah tells
us that because there is a very distinct hierarchy in
life, the animal must be put to death even if the death
of the human being was accidental.
I
remember reading, many years ago, an editorial in the
New York Times decrying an owner of an alligator farm
in Florida who shot an alligator that had mauled and killed
a child. The editorial argued that the alligator did what
was expected of an alligator. The child's parents, on
the other hand, were negligent for not keeping the child
away from the alligator pit. From the Torah's perspective,
as articulated in our case of the ox that gored and killed,
the owner of the alligator farm had taken the correct
action, even if the parents were negligent.
I
didn't always understand this law until many years later.
My aunt and uncle had retired to Miami. One day, while
crossing a street, my aunt was run over by a laundry truck.
She was in a coma for six months before she succumbed.
Every time my uncle saw a laundry truck, he would say:
"That's the truck that killed my wife!" The
rabbis suggest that an animal that kills a human being
be put to death to spare the sensitivities of the deceased's
family, so they would not be able to point to an animal
on the street and say: "That is the ox that trampled
my child." Perhaps a contemporary implementation
of this law would be that any vehicle involved in a lethal
accident be junked and removed from the road, or left
on the roadside as a warning to others that this vehicle
killed a human being or was involved in a lethal accident.
All this goes to underscore the sanctity of human life,
which is, after all, the bottom line of all of Judaism,
and to heighten our sensitivity towards negligent behavior
that may result in injury or death.
The
above cited law regarding injuries by animals continues
with Exodus 21:29, "V'im shor n'agach hu, mitmol
shil'shom, v'hu'ad b'va'alov, v'lo yish'ma'renu, v'hay'mit
eesh o' eesha, ha'shor yee'sa'kail, v'gam ba'alav yu'mat,"
But if it was an ox that gores habitually from yesterday
and the day before, and its owners had been warned but
did not guard it, and it killed a man or a woman, the
ox shall be stoned, and even its owner shall die. The
Torah is underscoring that a vicious animal can be regarded
as a lethal weapon. The owner of such an animal who is
negligent, may be regarded as a potential murderer.
The
very next verse however, verse 30, includes a very unusual
clause which allows for the exoneration of the owner.
"Im kofer yu'shat a'lav, v'natan pidyon nafsho
k'chol asher yu'shat a'lav," When an atonement
payment shall be assessed against him, [the owner of the
animal] shall pay as redemption for his life, whatever
shall be assessed against him. Perhaps because the Torah
realized that the death came about indirectly through
an ox, and not as a result of the owner's personal actions,
this death cannot be considered premeditated and deserving
of execution, even though the owner's negligence resulted
in death. Rather, Jewish law allows the owner of the vicious
animal to pay a fine, imposed by the court, freeing him
from the death penalty.
The
expression brought down in verse 30, of kofer, an atonement,
and pid'yon nafsho, redemption of his soul, appears a
few chapters later in parashat Ki Tisah (Exodus 30:12).
The army of Israel is counted through donations of a half
shekel. Ki Tisah et rosh B'nai Yisrael lif'kuday'hem,"
When you take a census of the children of Israel according
to their numbers, "V'nat'nu eesh kofer nafsho
la'Hashem, bif'kod otam," And every man shall
give to G-d an atonement for his soul when counting them.
Why would a soldier give an atonement for his soul? Perhaps
we can learn why from the laws of the vicious animal?
Just as the owner of a vicious animal that kills deserves
to die, but may redeem his soul through a payment process,
so perhaps the Torah is telling us that a soldier, no
matter how justified the cause for which he battles, whether
in self-defense or not, is a potential killer, and therefore
needs to pay a redemption for his soul before he goes
out to war.
3300
years ago, the Torah taught the world about the ultimate
value of the sanctity of human life. No document before
the Torah, nor any after the Torah, was to express with
such profound emphasis, how invaluable human life was,
and how much respect we must have for human life--the
greatest of G-d's gifts. While Judaism does justify soldiers
and battles, the Torah clearly reflects in its philosophy
a palpable sentiment toward pacifism. You may go out to
war, says the Torah to the Jewish soldier, however, beware
never to exult in war; always recognize the tremendous
cost of battle to both the aggressor and defender. Every
soldier who goes out to battle must do so with a profound
sense of humility, knowing that he is a potential killer
who deserves to be punished, and must pay a ransom for
his soul to
G-d.
Our
Torah is a very ancient code, with very modern, avant-guard
insights into life.
May You Be Blessed
Copyright
2007 National Jewish Outreach
Program www.njop.org
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