Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Destined to Break is Broken

First there was Star Wars, then The Empire Strikes Back, finally Return of the Jedi.  Well... not quite "finally", as we were treated to a new term: prequel.  Prequels allowed Hollywood to test an idea with a splashy and exciting story; a story that was full of holes.  Then, if the movie was successful, they could back fill the holes and milk their cash cow dry.

I have no cash cow (and very little cash of any sort), but I realize after looking back at my attempt to explain how "ha'motzi mei'chaveiro, alav haraya" works, that I need some prequels.  By using prequels I also can cover my lack of organization and clarity under the guise of building excitement and interest.

The first item of business is built on a particular category of damage that an animal can cause and the obligation his owner has to make restitution.  If an animal is walking in a public thoroughfare and steps on a vase, the animal's owner has no obligation to pay for the vase.  Both the animal and the vase have equal right to use the public thoroughfare, animals don't necessarily step gingerly around fragile items, so it is normal.  If the animal walks into your house and steps on a vase, of course, then the owner must pay for all damages.  The animal has no right to be there and your vase has every right to there.  So far so good.  One more detail: if the animal kicks a rock in the public thoroughfare that flies through your window and breaks your vase, then the animal's owner must reimburse you for half of your loss.  That is a halacha l'moshe m'sinai; HaShem whispered it into Moshe Rabeinu's ear and told him not to write it down.  If a person kicks, throws, hits, or otherwise motivates a rock to fly from the public thoroughfare into your house then he will pay full damages.  Animals aren't so careful and even though the damage occurred in your house, it started in the public area; so HaShem decreed a compromise.  That's the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Now... Chazal ask: What about an animal is walking along in the public thoroughfare and kicks a vase into the (vase) owner's house where it smashes against a wall?  Did the damage occur in the public thoroughfare (and so the animal's owner is off the hook), or did the damage occur in the house (and so the animal's owner must pay half damages)?  The gemara answers the question by comparing this case  to the case of someone knocking their vase off their roof. As the vase is hurtling earthward to certain destruction, someone else is walking by with a baseball bat and decides to take a swing at it.  SMASH!! Score!  Question: does the batter have to pay for the vase?  Answer: no; it was considered broken from the moment it left the roof.  Conclusion: in our case of the cow kicking the vase from the street into the living room, Mrs. O'Leary is also off the hook.  The vase is considered broken from the time it was kicked, which was in the public thoroughfare, so exempt from paying damages.

Ok, now that we have that clear, go back and read my post on how "ha'motzi mei'chaveiro, alav haraya" works.  I'll wait.

Hey... you are back awfully fast.  Still need more clarification?  Ok... coming soon...
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Love in the Time of Corona Virus/Anxiously Awaiting the Mashiach

Two scenarios: Scenario I: A young boy awakened in the middle of the night, placed in the back of vehicle, told not to make any noise, and the vehicle speeds off down the highway. Scenario II: Young boy playing in park goes to see firetruck, turns around to see scary man in angry pursuit, poised to attack. I experienced and lived through both of those scenarios. Terrifying, no? Actually, no; and my picture was never on a milk carton. Here's the context: Scenario I: We addressed both set of our grandparents as "grandma" and "grandpa". How did we distinguish? One set lived less than a half hour's drive; those were there "close grandma and grandpa". The other set lived five hour drive away; they were the "way far away grandma and grandpa". To make the trip the most pleasant for all of us, Dad would wake up my brother and I at 4:00AM, we'd groggily -- but with excitement! -- wander out and down to the garage where we'd crawl
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: אוושא מילתא Debases Yours Shabbos

My granddaughter came home with a list the girls and phone numbers in her first grade class.  It was cute because they had made it an arts and crafts project by pasting the list to piece of construction paper cut out to look like an old desk phone and a receiver attached by a pipe cleaner.  I realized, though, that the cuteness was entirely lost on her.  She, of course, has never seen a desk phone with a receiver.  When they pretend to talk on the phone, it is on any relatively flat, rectangular object they find.  (In fact, her 18 month old brother turns every  relatively flat, rectangular object into a phone and walks around babbling into it.  Not much different than the rest of us, except his train of thought is not interrupted by someone else babbling into his ear.) I was reminded of that when my chavrusa (who has children my grandchildrens age) and I were learning about אוושא מילתא.  It came up because of a quote from the Shulchan Aruch HaRav that referred to the noise of תקתוק
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: David HaMelech's Five Stages of Finding HaShem In the World

Many of us "sing" (once you have heard what I call carrying a tune, you'll question how I can, in good conscience, use that verb, even with the quotation marks) Eishes Chayil before the Friday night Shabbos meal.  We feel like we are singing the praises of our wives.  In fact, I have also been to chasunas where the chasson proudly (sometimes even tearfully) sings Eishes Chayil to his new eishes chayil.  Beautiful.  Also wrong.  (The sentiments, of course, are not wrong; just a misunderstanding of the intent of the author of these exalted words.) Chazal (TB Brachos, 10a) tell us that when Sholmo HaMelech wrote the words "She opens her mouth Mwith wisdom; the torah of kindness is on her tongue", that he was referring to his father, Dovid HaMelech, who (I am continuing to quote Chazal here) lived in five worlds and sang a song of praise [to each].  It seems to me that "world" here means a perception of reality.  Four times Dovid had to readjust his perc
Post a Comment
Read more