The Goring Shor

MISHNA: There are four primary categories of damage: The category of Ox; and the category of Pit; and the category of Maveh, which, based on a discussion in the Gemara refers either to the tooth of an animal that causes damage or to a person who causes damage; and the category of Fire.

Each of these categories is unique; therefore, the halakhot of one cannot be derived from another. The defining characteristic of the primary category of Ox is not similar to the defining characteristic of the primary category of Maveh, and the defining characteristic of the primary category of Maveh is not similar to the defining characteristic of the primary category of Ox. And the defining characteristics of this category of Ox and that category of Maveh, in which there is a living spirit that causes damage, are not similar to the defining characteristic of the category of Fire, in which there is no living spirit.

The mishna continues: And the defining characteristics of this primary category of Ox and Maveh and that primary category of Fire, in which the typical manner of their components is to proceed from one place to another and cause damage, are not similar to the defining characteristic of the primary category of Pit, in which the typical manner of its components is not to proceed from one place to another and cause damage; rather, it remains in place and the damage is caused by the injured party proceeding and encountering the obstacle.

The common denominator of the components in all of these primary categories is that it is their typical manner to cause damage, and the responsibility for their safeguarding to prevent them from causing damage is incumbent upon you, the owner of the animal or generator of the fire or the pit. And when a component of any of these categories causes damage, the owner or generator of the component that caused the damage is obligated to pay restitution for damage with best-quality land.

§ Seeking to clarify Rav Pappa’s statement, the Gemara cites a baraita that delineates the primary categories of damage. The Sages taught in a baraita: Three primary categories of damage were stated in the Torah with regard to an ox. An ox causes damage in three ways, and each is classified as a distinct primary category of damage represented by a part of the body of the ox: There is the category of Goring [keren], literally, horn. This is referring to an ox goring a person or an animal and causing damage. And there is the category of Eating [shen], literally, tooth. This is referring to one’s ox causing damage by consuming another person’s produce. And there is the category of Trampling [regel], literally, foot. This is referring to an ox trampling another person’s belongings and causing damage. These are classified as primary categories because they are mentioned explicitly in the Torah.

The Gemara elaborates: From where do we derive the primary category of Goring? The source is as the Sages taught in a baraita: The verse states: “And if an ox gores a man or a woman” (Exodus 21:28); and goring is performed only with a horn, as it is stated: “And Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron, and said: So says the Lord: With these shall you gore the Arameans, until they are consumed” (I Kings 22:11). And the verse also states: “His firstborn bull, majesty is his, and his horns are the horns of the wild ox; with them he shall gore the nations” (Deuteronomy 33:17).

The Gemara resumes its citation of the baraita: What is a subcategory of Goring? It includes any action that an ox performs with its body with the objective of inflicting damage: Pushing [negifa], biting, crouching upon items with the objective of inflicting damage, and kicking.

The Gemara asks: What is different about goring that it is characterized as a primary category of damage, as it is written explicitly in the verse: “And if an ox gores a man or a woman” (Exodus 21:28); accordingly, negifa should also be characterized as a primary category, as it is written: “If one man’s ox hurts [yiggof ] the ox of another” (Exodus 21:35)? The Gemara answers: This negifa mentioned in the verse, is actually a reference to goring, as it is taught in a baraita that the verses states: “And if one man’s ox hurts [yiggof ] the ox of another…or if it is known that the ox was a goring ox in time past” (Exodus 21:35–36). The verse began its description of the case with the term negifa and it concluded with the term goring to say to you that in this context the two terms describe the same action: This action is negifa and this same action is goring.

After citing the subcategories listed in the baraita, the Gemara resumes its analysis of the statement of Rav Pappa: But with regard to the statement that Rav Pappa said: There are among them some whose subcategories are dissimilar to them, to which primary category was Rav Pappa referring?

If we say that his reference was to these subcategories of Goring, what is different about Goring that defines it as a unique primary category? What is different is that the objective of the ox’s action is to cause damage, and the ox is your property, and responsibility for its safeguarding, to prevent it from causing damage, is incumbent upon you, its owner. In these subcategories of Goring, i.e., pushing [negifa], biting, crouching, and kicking, as well, the objective of the oxen’s actions is to cause damage, and the oxen are your property, and responsibility for their safeguarding, to prevent your oxen from causing damage, is incumbent upon you.

Rather, it is apparent that the status of a subcategory of Goring is like that of the primary category of Goring, and when Rav Pappa says: There are among them some whose subcategories are dissimilar to them, he was referring to Eating and Trampling.

The Gemara elaborates: Rav says: Maveh, this is the category of Man, as it is written: “The watchman said: Morning has come, and also night; if you will inquire [tivayun], inquire [be’ayu]” (Isaiah 21:12). The terms “tivayun” and “be’ayu,” meaning inquire, refer to a person, who is able to inquire. Accordingly, Maveh relates to an action performed by a person.

And Shmuel says: Maveh, this is the category of Eating, as it is written: “How is Esau searched out [neḥpesu]; how are his hidden places revealed [nivu]” (Obadiah 1:6)? The terms nivu and maveh share a common root. The Gemara asks: From where may it be inferred that nivu connotes Eating? The Gemara explains that it is as Rav Yosef translates the verse into Aramaic: How is Esau searched out [itbelish]; how are his hidden places revealed [itgaleyan]? The meaning of the Aramaic term itgaleyan means revealed, and that is the meaning of the Hebrew term “nivu.” Maveh references the animal’s teeth, which are covered when its mouth is closed and revealed when it eats.

And the defining characteristic [re’i] of the category of Eating, where it is not the objective of the animal to cause damage, is not similar to the defining characteristic of the category of Goring, where the objective of the animal is to cause damage.

The Gemara asks: But isn’t it possible to derive Goring from Eating by means of an a fortiori inference: If in a case of Eating, where it is not the objective of the animal to cause damage, its owner is liable, with regard to Goring, where the objective of the animal is to cause damage, should the owner not all the more so be liable? The Gemara answers: Nevertheless, it was necessary for the Torah to state the case of Goring, as it might enter your mind to say that the owner is exempt, just as he is exempt in the case where his slave or maidservant causes damage. When a slave or maidservant causes damage, is it not so that although their objective is to cause damage, even so their owners are exempt from liability; and so too, when one’s animal causes damage, it is no different. To dispel this notion, the Torah explicitly states that one is liable for damage caused by the primary category of Goring.