The Weekly Daf #8 Bava Kama 37-43 Week of 20 -26 Nisan 5754/1-7 April 1994 By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions ========================================================================= Only on the Sabbath The owner of an ox pays only half the damage caused by its goring until he has been warned on three successive occasions that his ox is a gorer. From then on he pays full damage. But he is considered an inveterate gore only in regard to the pattern he set, i.e., the type of victim he gored. What about the pattern of time? This question was posed to Rabbi Yehuda: What is the status of an ox that gored on three successive Sabbaths but not in the weekdays? His ruling was that he is considered an inveterate gorer on Sabbaths and his owner will pay in full for damage caused by his goring on any Sabbath but is still considered a novice on weekdays, obligating his owner to pay only half of the damage. Bava Kama 37a What logic is there in assuming that the ox has a predilection for goring _only on the Sabbath_? The ox is idle on the Sabbath (because the Torah restrains his master from having him work on this day) and is therefore in a temperamental state. Rashi The people wearing their Sabbath finery appear to the ox as strangers whom he fails to recognize and this arouses him to violence. Tosefos based on Jerusalem Talmud ========================================================================= The Wrong Kind of Condolence When Rabbi Shmuel bar Yehuda lost a daughter the Babylonian sages invited their Eretz Israeli colleague, the Sage Ullo, to join them in paying a condolence visit. "What can I have to do with the condolences of the Babylonians", replied Ullo "when they are so blasphemous? They try to comfort the mourner by saying 'What can you do?' as if to imply that if they could do something about it they would counter the will of Heaven!" Bava Kama 38a A man must rather accept with love the decree of Heaven in the manner which the suffering Job rebuked his disconsolate wife "Shall we accept only the good from the L-rd and not accept the evil?" This attitude is also expressed in the Talmudic dictate that one must bless the L-rd for the evil as well as for the good. Nimukei Yossef ========================================================================= Spend this coming Summer in Israel for as little as $599 -> JLE Israel Summer Seminar '94 <- 6 weeks of study and touring (June 1 - July 17) for Jewish men between the ages of 19 and 30 with demonstrated academic achievment and a sincere motivation to explore their roots. Minimum scholarship price: $599 (for round trip ticket, room, board, tuition and tours) For information: o send E-Mail to Rabbi Zalman Corlin o from the U.S. call toll-free 800-431-2272 (212-344-2000) o Outside N. America, send E-Mail to: newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il ========================================================================= Jewish L EEEEEEEE Prepared by Ohr Somayach Institutions J L E 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 J L Exchange Jerusalem 91180, Israel J J L E Tel: 02-810315 Fax: 02-812890 JJJJ Learning EEEEEEEE Internet: newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il =========================================================================