Bava Kamma 34 - December 6, 23 Kislev

Today's daf is sponsored by Deborah Hoffman-Wade in loving memory of Simcha Collins on her first yahrzeit. "Beloved scholar, romantic, and deep searcher, her love of Torah was not even closely satisfied by our twice weekly meeting to study and learn. My havruta of many years, Simcha, had a deep need to turn Torah, to be fiercely feminist, and have a multilayered mystic belief in Hashem. I miss you every day." What rights does the owner of a shor tam or a shor muad have to sell their animal after it caused damage, designate it to the temple, slaughter it, or give it as a gift? Does it matter if it is before standing before the court? What if a creditor collected the animal as payment? Does it matter if the creditor had a lien on the animal before or after it caused the damage? Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagree on how to explain the payment for damages in the classic case of shor tam described in the Torah - it says both owners split the value of the animal that caused damage and the value of the carcass of the dead animal. They disagree about whether the owner of the shor tam has rights also to the carcass of the animal the ox gored. There is a discussion regarding what is the practical difference between the two opinions since both agree that in a typical case, the bottom line payment is the same. In particular cases, it seems Rabbi Yehuda could potentially hold that the owner of the ox who damaged can gain on the deal or, on the other extreme, pay more than the damage the ox caused. Therefore, it is explained that Rabbi Yehuda would not interpret the verse to apply in those cases. The Mishna states that there are some cases where one is liable to pay for damages done by their ox, but not by a person as a person would be exempt on account of kim lei d'beraba minei, if the action comes with a death penalty, there is no obligation to pay. Alternatively, there are cases where a person would be liable for damages that the owner of an ox would not be, as oxen who embarrass someone are not liable to pay for that.