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Week 166 - Sunday - 26 January 2003

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 3

A mu'ad ox that has killed a slave affects us leniently and stringently. How so? Whether it killed the most handsome of slaves or the ugliest of slaves, he pays thirty selas. If it killed a freeman, he pays his worth. If it wounded him, whether the one or the other, he pays full damages.

Kehati

The law of a mu'ad ox that has killed a slave - which, as taught in mishnah 1 - affects us leniently and stringently.

How so? Whether it killed the most handsome of slaves worth more than thirty selas or the ugliest of slaves worth less than thirty selas, he - the owner of the ox - pays the slave owner thirty selas - thus (Ex. 21:32): "if the ox shall gore a manservant or a maidservant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels"; this penalty fixed by the Torah is at times lenient to the ox owner who pays less than the slave's value, and at times, when he pays more than the latter's worth, it is stringent.

But if it - the mu'ad ox - killed a freeman, he pays his worth - as stated (Ex. 21:30): "If there be laid on him a sum of money then he shall give for the ransom," i.e., the full value of the person killed.

If it wounded him, whether the one or the other - a slave or a freeman, but did not kill them, he - the owner - pays full damages - i.e., the estimated difference in the value of the person before and after being wounded.

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 4

The violator and the seducer affect us leniently and stringently. How so? Whether he violated or seduced the greatest among the priestly stock or the least in Israel, he pays fifty selas. But with shaming and the blemish, it is all in accordance with him who inflicts the indignity and the one who suffers the indignity.

Kehati

The - law of the - violator and the seducer affect us leniently and stringently. How so? Whether he violated or seduced the greatest - i.e., noblest - among the priestly stock or the least - i.e., humblest - in Israel, he pays fifty selas since the Torah (Deut. 22:29) decrees: "then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl's father fifty shekels of silver," and concerning the seducer (Ex. 22:16) "he shall weigh the money according to the marriage price of virgins"; that the penalty imposed on the seducer is fifty shekels of silver is learned from the specifications of this sum in the case of the violator, where “he shall weigh money” is likewise mentioned.

But the compensation with shaming and the blemish to be paid in addition to the fifty shekel fine is not fixed by the Torah, rather it is all established by the Court in accordance with the circumstances of him who inflicts the indignity and the one who suffers the indignity - the outrage increases the lowlier the offender and the more high-ranking the victim. See Ket. 3:7, where we learn that in order to assess the blemish suffered, the victim is looked upon as a bondwoman about to be sold, her price as a virgin and that after being violated. However, for the sake of brevity, our mishnah refers only to the compensation for indignity.

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