פרשת משפטים תש"ז - "הבור"

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

או כי יכרה OR IF A MAN SHALL DIG [A PIT] — Why is this stated? If he becomes liable for opening one that already exists how much the more is he liable for digging a new one! However, it does not mean that he digs a pit from beginning to end but it is intended to include in this law a person who digs after another has dug (i. e. who deepens to a height of ten handbreaths a pit which another has already excavated to a depth less than this. Before he did this an animal which fell into the pit was unlikely to kill itself; now, however, such a fall may prove fatal) — that such a one alone becomes liable (cf. Bava Kamma 51a).

ולא יכסנו AND SHALL NOT COVER IT — if, however, he did cover it, though he did not fill it in with earth” he is not liable (Bava Kamma 50a). Scripture speaks of one who excavates a pit in a public thoroughfare (cf. Bava Kamma 49b).

ולא יכסנו AND SHALL NOT COVER IT — if, however, he did cover it, though he did not fill it in with earth” he is not liable (Bava Kamma 50a). Scripture speaks of one who excavates a pit in a public thoroughfare (cf. Bava Kamma 49b).

שור או חמור AN OX OR AN ASS — This is the law also with respect to all cattle and beasts, because wherever the Torah prescribes something with regard to “ox or ass”, we derive it (the fact that it applies to all cattle and beasts) on the grounds of the verbal similarity of שור in the text in question with שור which occurs in the law prescribing the Sabbath rest, for — with regard to the latter — it is stated, (Exodus 23:12) “that thine ox and thine ass may rest”. Now how is it in the latter case? We know that all cattle and beasts are to be treated in this respect as the “ox”, because in another passage referring to Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:14) it is expressly said “[thy ox and thy ass] and all thy cattle”! So here, too, all cattle and beasts are to be treated as the ox. The only reason why ox and ass are alone mentioned is to imply: “an ox” — but not a man, “an ass” — but not vessels (Bava Kamma 53b).

בעל הבור THE OWNER OF THE PIT [SHALL PAY FOR IT] — This means the one who occasioned the damage. Although the pit was not his, — for he dug it in the public thoroughfare, — Scripture regards him as its “owner” (בעל הבור) in so far that he becomes responsible for the damage caused by it.

Even one that is slack in his work Is brother to him that is a destroyer. .

Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.

והמת יהיה לו AND THE DEAD BEAST SHALL BELONG TO HIM — to him who has suffered the loss. We assess the value of the carcass and he (the claimant) takes it at this value in part payment, and the man who caused the damage pays him in addition to this as much as will make up the whole loss he has suffered (Bava Kamma 10b).

והמת יהיה לו, “and the carcass will belong to the person who caused the damage,” as seeing he has paid full damages this is only fair. (This is the plain meaning of the verse, not necessarily the Talmud’s, there being a debate about who is the subject of the word: לו, “his”)