Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
If you are taking care of someone else’s stuff, you are considered a שׁוֹמֵר (shomer, guardian), and that means you could be responsible if something happens to the thing you’re watching. What happens if you are a shomer, and the thing you’re watching gets stolen? Should you be held responsible for that?
It’s fascinating that the Torah seems to go both ways.
First, it says that the shomer is not responsible to pay for it (as long as the shomer swears in court that they didn’t steal it; Shemot 22:7).
But then, a few pesukim later (Shemot 22:9-11), the Torah says yes, the shomer is responsible to pay!
Our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) explain that a shomer is sometimes responsible to pay, and sometimes not.
פָּרָשָׁה רִאשׁוֹנָה נֶאֶמְרָה בְּשׁוֹמֵר חִנָּם, לְפִיכָךְ פָּטַר בּוֹ אֶת הַגְּנֵבָה... וּפָרָשָׁה זוֹ אֲמוּרָה בְּשׁוֹמֵר שָׂכָר, לְפִיכָךְ אֵינוֹ פָּטוּר אִם נִגְנְבָה.
The first section is about an unpaid shomer, who is therefore free of responsibility for theft... This [second] section is about a shomer who is paid, and is therefore not free from liability if the object is stolen.
פָּרָשָׁה רִאשׁוֹנָה… מְטַלְטְלִין הֵם וּלְשָׁמְרָם בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ כִּשְׁאָר חֲפָצָיו נְתָנָן לוֹ...
אֲבָל פָּרָשָׁה שְׁנִיָּה שֶׁכָּתוּב בָּהּ "כִּי יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ חֲמוֹר… ", וְדֶרֶךְ בְּהֵמוֹת לִרְעוֹת בַּשָּׂדֶה, וַדַּאי כְּשֶׁהִפְקִידָם עַל מְנָת לְשָׁמְרָם מִגַּנָּבִים הִפְקִידָם לוֹ, וְלָכֵן אִם נִגְנְבוּ חַיָּב.
The first section... refers to objects that are commonly kept inside the house, and that were given to the shomer to take care of it as they would take care of their own belongings…
But the second section says, “when a person gives to their neighbor a donkey...” Since animals spend a lot of time outdoors, we assume that the owner only allowed the shomer to watch the animals on condition that the shomer would be extra careful to protect them from thieves. So, if they were stolen, the shomer is responsible.
- What is the difference between guarding something inside vs. outdoors? Why would that change the level of responsibility?
- What is each parshan saying about watching other people’s belongings?
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