RAV KOOK PARSHAS MISHPATIM

(PLEASE LEARN FOR A RUFUA SHELAMA FOR THE GEDOLIM Rav Elyashiv -Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha, Rav Shteinman - Aaron Yehuda Leib ben Gitel Feiga, Rav Weiss - Yitzchak Tuvia ben Rikal, Rav Belsky - Yisroel ben Chana Tzirtel, Rav Yosef - Yaakov Chai ben Margalit And Telzer Rosh Yeshiva, Yitxchok Izak ben Trina Devorah for a refuah shleima b’soch kol cholei am Yisrael.)

Translated and abridged by Rabbi Chanan Morrison Parshat Mishpatim Amongst the various laws in Mishpatim — nearly all of societal or interpersonal nature — the Torah outlines the laws of compensation for physical damages. When one person injures another, he must compensate the damage with a financial payment covering five components. He must pay for permanent loss of income due to the injury, embarrassment and pain incurred, loss of work while the victim was healing, and medical expenses. This last component, that he 'provide for his complete healing' (Ex. 21:19), is of particular interest. The root-word 'to heal' appears 67 times in the Torah, almost exclusively referring to God as the Healer. Only here, as an aside to the topic of damages, is it made clear that we are expected to take active measures to heal ourselves, and not just leave the healing process to nature. This detail did not escape the keen eyes of the Sages. "From here we see that the Torah gave permission to the doctor to heal" (Berachot 60). Yet we need to understand: why must the Torah explicitly give such permission to doctors? If anything, we should expect all medical activity to be highly commended, for easing pain and saving lives.