Tidbits from TB Baba Kama 57-60

My animal has fallen and can’t get up  TB Baba Kama 57

“The mishna teaches: If the animal fell into a garden and derives benefit, the owner pays for the benefit that it derives.” (Sefaria.org translation) Of course, everybody agrees that when the fallen animal eats the food growing in the garden, the owner of the animal must pay for damages. He drives benefit for one no longer has to feed his animal out of his own pocket.

Rav cites a different benefit. “Rav says: This is referring to a case where the vegetables softened the impact of striking the ground, and the owner pays for this benefit of the animal being saved from injury.” (Sefaria.org translation) The Meiri writes that one estimates how much a person would value saving his animal from damage. That is the sum that the owner of the animal owes the owner of the garden. Rebeinu Yonatan Meluniel disagrees and writes that one estimates how much straw one would need to soften the impact of striking the ground. That is the sum the owner of the animal owes the owner of the guard. Since straw is inexpensive, Rebeinu Yonatan will require the owner of the animal to pay less in damages.

It’s good to be a great person TB Baba Kama 59

To appreciate a story which ends the sugiya we need to know that almost all of TB Baba Kama 58b-59b analyzes how does one estimate damages to a field when a person’s animal enters and damages it. After much debate the Gemara concludes:

“Returning to the discussion of the appraisal of compensation for damage, the Gemara relates: Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, acted in accordance with the opinion of Rav Naḥman and appraised a damaged date palm relative to an area sixty times greater than the particular area where the tree was standing…The Gemara concludes: And the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, with regard to an Aramean date palm, i.e., one of lesser quality, and it is assessed relative to the land, but the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of the Exilarch with regard to a Persian date palm, as they are of higher quality and each one is valuable, and it is not assessed relative to the land.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The sugiya ends with the following story.

“The Gemara relates: Eliezer Ze’eira was wearing black shoes, unlike the Jewish custom of that time, and standing in the market of Neharde’a. Officials of the house of the Exilarch found him and said to him: What is different about you that causes you to wear these shoes? He said to them: I am wearing them because I am in mourning over the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, and so I wear black shoes, as is the custom of mourners. They said to him: Are you a man of such importance to publicly mourn over Jerusalem? They thought that it was simply presumptuousness on his part. Since he was acting against the prevalent Jewish custom, they brought him to the prison and incarcerated him.

“Eliezer Ze’eira said to them: I am a great man, a scholar, and it is fitting for me to mourn publicly over the destruction of Jerusalem. They said to him: How do we know that you are a scholar? He said to them: Either you ask of me a matter of halakha and I will answer you, or I will ask you a matter of halakha and you will answer me. They said to him: You ask.

“He said to them: With regard to one who cuts a cluster of flowers on the stem of a date palm belonging to another, what is he required to pay? They said to him: He pays the value of the date stem. He said to them: But ultimately they will become ripe dates, which are worth more. They said to him: If so, he pays the value of the future dates. He said to them: But he did not take ripe dates from the other person, so how can the court obligate him to pay for damage that he did not cause?

“They said to Eliezer Ze’eira: You tell us the correct appraisal for the date stem. He said to them: The court appraises the damage relative to a similar piece of land sixty times the size. They said to him: Who says an opinion as you do, so that you can prove you are correct? He said to them: Shmuel is alive and his court exists; you can ask him. They sent the question before Shmuel, together with the ruling of Eliezer Ze’eira. Shmuel said to them: He is saying well to you, because the halakha is as he says; the appraisal is relative to an area sixty times greater. Upon hearing this, the officials of the Exilarch realized that he was a great man and they released him.” (Sefaria.org translation)

I find the story strange for a couple of reasons. First of all, there is no prison institution in halakha. Secondly, how could haughtiness be a reason to incarcerate a person? If that were the case, the jails will be full of both rabbis and laypeople!

During this period sandals that Jews wore had black bottoms and white straps to fasten the sandals to their legs. Pagans wore completely black sandals. Perhaps the Exilarch was afraid of the Jews of assimilating totally into the wider Babylonian culture. Eliezer Ze’eira’s knowledge of this complicated sugiya demonstrated that he truly mourned this the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and wasn’t interested in assimilating into the wider Babylonian culture.

Theodicy  TB Baba Kama 60

The most difficult theological question for a believing person is: “Why bad things happen to good people?”  Today’s daf offers several different suggestions. Rav Yosef’s that resonates most for us modern

“Rav Yosef taught a baraita: What is the meaning of that which is written with regard to the plague of the firstborn: “And none of you shall go out of the opening of his house until the morning” (Exodus 12:22)? If the plague was not decreed upon the Jewish people, why were they not permitted to leave their homes? Once permission is granted to the destroyer to kill, it does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. And not only that, but it begins with the righteous first, as it is stated in the verse: “And will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked” (Ezekiel 21:8), where mention of the righteous precedes the wicked.” (Sefaria.org translation) The rules of nature and physics don’t differentiate between the righteous and the wicked.

There are many different answers to the question why bad things happen to good people. Probably the most famous attempt is Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book by the same title, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. If you’re interested in other approaches a good book to start with is A Jewish Theology by Louis Jacobs.