BAIS HAVAAD ON THE PARSHA 5773 ~ PARSHAS MISHPATIM ~Compensation for Lost Wages
We find many times in the Torah that Hashem gave mitzvos to protect wasting people's work time. This can be found at least two times in our parsha. Firstly, the Torah requires one who injures another person to pay him sheves - the loss of work caused by the injury. Sheves is unlike the other four damages that one who injures another person must pay. The other four are simply recovery of the damage and payment for the pain and embarrassment of the injury. Sheves, on the other hand, is to cover the indirect losses caused by the injury. In many other situations, a damager doesn't pay for such indirect damage. For the loss of work, however, the Torah does require the injurer to pay. Secondly, the Gemara (Bava Kama 79b) says that the reason why one that steals and slaughters (or sells) an ox pays more than one who steals and slaughters (or sells) a sheep, is because he caused its owner to lose work. The Meiri (ibid.) explains that from here we should learn that although one must be careful not to indirectly damage another person in any way, one must be especially careful not to disturb someone from their work. Interestingly, the Chinuch (124) explains that for this reason the Torah instructed to slaughter the chatas ha'of - the bird offering of a sinner - with the fingernail rather than with a knife. This is because if it were to require a knife it would take the kohen time to find a knife and inspect it, which might cause the owner of the offering to waste his work time. Those who generally bring a chatas ha'of are poor day laborers.(AUDIO VERSION HERE) AND PRINT VERSION HERE.
We find many times in the Torah that Hashem gave mitzvos to protect wasting people's work time. This can be found at least two times in our parsha. Firstly, the Torah requires one who injures another person to pay him sheves - the loss of work caused by the injury. Sheves is unlike the other four damages that one who injures another person must pay. The other four are simply recovery of the damage and payment for the pain and embarrassment of the injury. Sheves, on the other hand, is to cover the indirect losses caused by the injury. In many other situations, a damager doesn't pay for such indirect damage. For the loss of work, however, the Torah does require the injurer to pay. Secondly, the Gemara (Bava Kama 79b) says that the reason why one that steals and slaughters (or sells) an ox pays more than one who steals and slaughters (or sells) a sheep, is because he caused its owner to lose work. The Meiri (ibid.) explains that from here we should learn that although one must be careful not to indirectly damage another person in any way, one must be especially careful not to disturb someone from their work. Interestingly, the Chinuch (124) explains that for this reason the Torah instructed to slaughter the chatas ha'of - the bird offering of a sinner - with the fingernail rather than with a knife. This is because if it were to require a knife it would take the kohen time to find a knife and inspect it, which might cause the owner of the offering to waste his work time. Those who generally bring a chatas ha'of are poor day laborers.(AUDIO VERSION HERE) AND PRINT VERSION HERE.
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