~ Before diving into the mishnah...
Find four categories of damage-making things. What do they all have in common?
What do the cases of the ox and the tooth/grazer have in common?
How are the cases of the ox and the tooth/grazer different?
Under which situation is damaged caused by an ox?
Under which situation is damage caused by a grazer?
Which verse deals with the case of a pit? What are the two characteristics of a pit?
Which verse deals with the case of a fire? What are the two characteristics of fire?
(א) אַרְבָּעָה אֲבוֹת נְזִיקִין, הַשּׁוֹר וְהַבּוֹר וְהַמַּבְעֶה וְהַהֶבְעֵר. לֹא הֲרֵי הַשּׁוֹר כַּהֲרֵי הַמַּבְעֶה, וְלֹא הֲרֵי הַמַּבְעֶה כַּהֲרֵי הַשּׁוֹר. וְלֹא זֶה וָזֶה, שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶן רוּחַ חַיִּים, כַּהֲרֵי הָאֵשׁ, שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ רוּחַ חַיִּים. וְלֹא זֶה וָזֶה, שֶׁדַּרְכָּן לֵילֵךְ וּלְהַזִּיק, כַּהֲרֵי הַבּוֹר, שֶׁאֵין דַּרְכּוֹ לֵילֵךְ וּלְהַזִּיק. הַצַּד הַשָּׁוֶה שֶׁבָּהֶן, שֶׁדַּרְכָּן לְהַזִּיק וּשְׁמִירָתָן עָלֶיךָ. וּכְשֶׁהִזִּיק, חָב הַמַּזִּיק לְשַׁלֵּם תַּשְׁלוּמֵי נֶזֶק בְּמֵיטַב הָאָרֶץ:
(1) [There are] four categories of damages: The ox, the pit, the grazer, and the fire. The [characteristics] of the ox are not similar to the [characteristics] of the grazer. And the [characteristics] of the grazer are not similar to the [characteristics] of the ox. Nor are either of these, which have a living spirit, similar to the fire, which has no living spirit. Nor are any of these, which move and do damage, similar to the pit, which does not move and does damage. What is common among them is that they do damage, and the responsibility for their supervision is upon you. And when they do damage, the damager must pay from the best of the land.
~ This Mishnah has four parts. Mark them.
~ How does this first mishnah close? What is its main message?
~ Read the following cases. Decide who is responsible for what, and in which case of damages do the cases fall:
1. Reuven has a guard dog named Bugger. Bugger has broken out of Reuven's backyard twice and bit people. Bugger broke out again and bit Mrs. Fritz.
2. Leah has opened a fried chicken restaurant. Business in the first day was great, so great that, in the evening, at closing time, she dumped five gallons of used oil on the sidewalk and on the street. In the morning, Jack was riding his motorcycle to work, and lost control of it as he rode over the oil slick. Jack broke an arm. The motorcycle was totaled. Moreover, it hit a Volvo parked nearby, and dented the door.
3. The City of Bandury has a parade every year. The local dentist, Dr. Peretz, decided to have a float with a ten-foot tooth made of plaster. As he is moving the tooth with its trailer, he decides to stop and have a cup of coffee. Somehow the trailer got detached from the car, rolled downhill and entered into a department store through the window, breaking three mannequins and creating general havoc.
4. Michal adopts a pet giraffe. The giraffe lives happily in the backyard. One day, in the summer, the giraffe stretches its neck and eats all the peaches off Meir's peach tree.
5. Ed has a cat. His neighbor is Mrs. Danner. Between the two houses there is a low wall, and on top of the wall sit fifteen clay pots with beautiful flowers, all belonging to Mrs. Danner. The cat goes out and knocks over three flower pots onto the street. Debbie is coming home with her arms filled with grocery bags. She does not see the soil or the clay shards, slips and falls. The groceries spill onto the sidewalk. The eggs are ruined, the milk is gone, and the bread package has opened.
Read the following article by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz:
Bava Kamma 2a-b: Four Primary Categories of Damage
The introductory Mishna to Massekhet Bava Kamma offers the four avot nezikin. While avot translates literally to “fathers,” the term in this context refers to the primary types of damages according to the Torah: – Shor (an ox), Bor (a pit), Mav’eh and Hev’er (fire) – each with its own set of rules.
Of these four archetypes of damage, two are clear. A Bor is a pit that is dug in a place where someone or someone’s property can fall in and become injured or damaged. Hev’er is fire that destroys property. The other two cases – Shor and Mav’eh – need further explanation; Rav and Shmuel argue in the Gemara about how to define them. Shor clearly means damage done by an ox, but an ox can do damage in a number of different ways and it is not clear what types of damage the term Shor refers to.
According to Rav, the Mishna has listed the four types of damages that appear in the Torah, and Shor is a broad term that encompasses keren (damage done with the animal’s horns), shen (damage done with the animal’s teeth, i.e. eating) and regel (damage done by the animal’s hooves while walking). Mav’eh refers to a different type of damage mentioned in the Torah – a person who does damage. Shmuel believes that the Mishna is listing only those avot nezikin that are damage done by property that the owner should have expected. Thus Shor refers specifically to damage done by the animal while walking (regel) while Mav’eh refers to damage done by the animal when it eats (shen). According to Shmuel, the Mishna does not deal with a person who does damage, as it is a different category of damage.
The Talmud Yerushalmi explains that Shor means keren and Mav’eh includes both shen and regel. Thus, according to the Yerushalmi, the Mishna includes all cases of damage done by someone’s property.