Important Message Regarding This Lesson
The Daily Mitzvah schedule runs parallel to the daily study of 3 chapters of Maimonides' 14-volume code. There are instances when the Mitzvah is repeated a few days consecutively while the exploration of the same Mitzvah continues in the in-depth track.
Positive Commandment 236 (Digest)
Personal Injury
"If men quarrel, and one strikes the other..."—Exodus 21:18.
The courts are commanded to adjudicate cases that involve personal injury caused by one person to another. [Monetary penalties are assessed to compensate for devaluation of the injured individual, pain sustained, medical bills, unemployment due to the injury, and shame incurred.]
Only an ordained court in the Land of Israel can adjudicate such cases [with the exception of medical bills and unemployment, that can be adjudicated by all rabbinical courts no matter the location].
Unabridged English Text of this Mitzvah »
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> The 236th mitzvah is that we are commanded regarding someone who wounds another person.
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> The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement;) (exalted be He), "[This is the law] when two men fight, and one hits the other..." These laws are called dinei k'nasos ["the laws of fines"].
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> There is one general verse which includes all these laws, namely G‑d's statement;) (exalted be He), "[If one maims his neighbor,] whatever he did must be done to him in return." The Oral Tradition explains that [it does not mean that he is literally to be harmed in return, but that] he must pay the monetary equivalent of the damage he has caused to the other person. Even if he merely shamed him, he must pay appropriate damages.
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> You should be aware that all these laws involve damage that one person causes to another. They may be judged and determined only by a High Court which was ordained in Israel . The same applies for cases when an animal damages a person or another animal.
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> The details of this mitzvah are explained in the 8th chapter of tractate Bava Kama.
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> Footnotes
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> 1.
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> Ex. 21:18.
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> 2.
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> Lev. 24:19.