Bava Kamma - Daf 83
- לא יגדל אדם את הכלב
The Mishnah on Daf 79b stated: לא יגדל אדם את הכלב אא"כ קשור בשלשלת – One may not raise a dog unless it is bound with chains. A Baraisa adds that one may raise a dog near the border of a neighboring nation (for protection) and should tie it up by day and release it by night. Rebbe Eliezer HaGadol said: המגדל כלבים כמגדל חזירים – One who raises dogs is like one who raises pigs and is included in the Rabbis’ curse for raising swine. Rebbe Dostai of Biri darshened the passuk: "ובנחה יאמר שובה ה' רבבות אלפי ישראל" – and when [the Aron] rested, [Moshe] would say, “Return, Hashem, to the myriad thousands of Yisroel.” This teaches: שאין שכינה שורה על ישראל פחות משני אלפים ושני רבבות – that the Shechinah does not rest upon a group of Jews fewer than two thousand and two myriads (i.e., twenty-two thousand). Thus, if there was such a group minus one, and there was a pregnant woman capable of completing the number, but a dog barked at her and she miscarried, נמצא זה גורם לשכינה שתסתלק מישראל – it emerges that this owner caused the Shechinah to depart from Yisroel!
- החובל בחבירו חייב עליו משום חמשה דברים
The eighth Perek begins: החובל בחבירו – One who wounds his fellow, חייב עליו משום חמשה דברים – can be liable on his account for five things: בנזק – for damage, בצער – for pain, בריפוי – for healing, בשבת – for unemployment, ובושת – and for humiliation. The Mishnah elaborates: (1) Damages are assessed by evaluating the victim as a slave sold on the market, by appraising what his value would be before and after the injury. (2) Pain is paid even if there is no physical damage and is assessed based on how much the victim would accept to suffer such pain. (3) The damager must fund his healing, including sores which develop because of the injury. If the wound healed and returned, he must pay until it is completely healed. (4) If the victim lost his hand or foot, and that loss was already compensated for, unemployment is assessed by his income for watching cucumbers (for which he is still capable). He is compensated for his recovery period when he cannot even perform this work. (5) Humiliation is assessed based on the humiliater (a lowlier individual inflicts greater embarrassment), and the one humiliated (the greater his stature, the greater his humiliation).
- Sources that עין תחת עין means monetary payment
The Gemara asks, since the Torah says "עין תחת עין" – an eye for an eye, אימא עין ממש – I should say it means he literally must lose his eye, and not pay money!? A Baraisa compares מכה אדם – one who strikes a man and מכה בהמה – one who strikes an animal, teaching that just as one who strikes an animal makes monetary compensation, one who strikes a person also makes monetary compensation. Later, this is explained as a gezeirah shavah between a passuk about striking an animal and one about striking a person. The Baraisa concludes that if the gezeirah shavah is inadequate (because perhaps it should be learned from “striking” a man to death, where the murderer is actually killed), it may be darshened from "לא תקחו כופר לנפש רוצח אשר הוא רשע למות" – you shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is deserving to die, implying that only for murder is a ransom not accepted, אבל אתה לוקח כופר לראשי אברים שאין חוזרין – but you shall accept a ransom for ends of limbs that do not regenerate, i.e., payment is made instead of losing a limb. This derashah alone is insufficient, for one could think the assailant can choose to lose his limb instead of paying.
