פרשת אמור תש"ה - החובל בחברו

And if a man maim his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him:

And if a man maim his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him:

When the Torah says: "If a man disfigures a person, as he has done so shall it be done to him" (Leviticus 24:20), it does not mean to inflict injury on this man as he did on the other, but that the offender fittingly deserves to be deprived of a limb or wounded in the same manner as he did, and must therefore indemnify the damage he caused. Furthermore, the Torah says: "You shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer" (Numbers 35:31), implying that only for a murderer no ransom is accepted, but compensation is taken for the loss of limbs or for injuries sustained.

so shall be done to him Compare Samson’s words: “so have I done to them” [Judges 15:11] [where the term denotes equivalent, but not equal, compensation — Translator]. In addition, Sa‘adya Gaon has brought numerous other proofs, from simple common sense, that Scripture could not mean a fracture for a fracture literally. For example, since the original wound was not precisely calculated, how could one duplicate it exactly? If not, and if the wound is in a sensitive area, one might kill the guilty party inadvertently! If someone removed one-third, say, of another person’s eyelid, how could one possibly give the guilty party precisely that wound? Accordingly, the words of the tradition [Bava Qama 83b] must be correct. The true explanation in all these cases is that the guilty party deserves to lose an eye, but instead, he pays its monetary equivalent. If people should ask, “what if the guilty party is poor?” we answer that the law deals with the cases that are likely to occur. Besides, we can throw the question back at the questioners: What if the guilty party is blind? At least a poor person can conceivably become rich! [see also comment on Exodus 21:24] so it shall be given upon him [literally: with him] [to “give upon” someone in Hebrew means to fine him — Translator] Often, the letter bet [“with”] takes the place of the preposition “upon”. Compare, “upon [literally: with] which I rode” [Nehemiah 2:12]. Many other examples exist. or so it shall be given in him — i.e., so shall it be done to him — if he does not compensate his victim.

Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for the home-born; for I am the LORD your God.’

And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

ובני ישראל עשו AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID [AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES] every prescription mentioned in respect to the stoning-penalty in another place, viz., the casting down of the culprit from a height, the heaping of stones upon him, and the hanging him after the execution has taken place (cf. Sifra, Emor, Chapter 19 10; Sanhedrin 43a).

The children of Israel did … From that day onwards, they enforced all the laws of personal injury.

ובני ישראל עשו כאשר צוה ה' את משה, they did not stone him as an act of revenge, or because they hated the individual being stoned; they did it merely in order to fulfill G’d’s commandment.