Oxen Collision

Payment for Damages To Janice:

This is a great question. It was beyond the focus of this series, but to answer your question:

Firstly, this is a Biblical commandment. But as you indeed asked: Why?

Indeed, the Talmud elsewhere explain the rationale of the half payment principle for the damages caused by a non-goring ox, and offer two approaches in this regard:

Rav Papa is of the opinion that in reality, one should have been responsible to pay the full payment of the damage. The Torah however reduced it, for the ox was assumed to be a non-goring ox, and in a way, this was a bit unexpected.

Rav Huna on the other hand holds that in reality, the owner of the ox should have been completely exempt from payment, for he is not responsible to safeguard a non-goring ox. The Torah however penalized the owner with a partial payment (i.e. half the amount of the damage) to encourage owners to prevent such damages to happen in the future. Reply

Muad To Anonymous from NY:

This is how you spell it in Hebrew: מועד, literally: "warned". This term refers to an ox that gored more than three times, and is then considered to be a "goring ox". Reply