What an Attacker Owes the Man He Injured

"If he rises again and walks about" (Exodus 21:19). One might think from this bed to that bed; therefore Scripture says "outside." From this I know only of outside; how do I include his courtyard and his garden? Scripture says, "if he rises again and walks about." If the blow severed his hand or his foot, I might hear that this is not included; therefore Scripture says, "if he rises again and walks about outside upon his staff." Then what does "upon his staff" teach? Scripture is speaking of one restored to health; it calls his own body his support. "Then the one who struck shall be cleared." Rabbi Nehemiah said: were it not so, what would have entered my mind, that this one walks about in the marketplace while the other comes and is put to death for him? Rather, even if the victim was wrenched loose and died from the original blow, the striker is exempt. "Then the one who struck shall be cleared." One might think, cleared of everything; therefore Scripture says, "only he shall pay for his loss of time." "His loss of time" means his idleness, as it says, "and on the seventh day He rested and ceased" (Exodus 31:17). From this I know only of loss of time; how do I include damage, pain, shame, and healing? Scripture says, "he shall pay" [the extra word includes them]. "Only his loss of time." One might think they view him as though he produces a sela a day, or as though he produces two selas; therefore Scripture says, "the one who struck shall be cleared, only he shall pay for his loss of time," his later loss of time, not his earlier loss of time. Rather, they view him as a lame man guarding cucumber and gourd fields. And if you say the measure of justice has suffered, it has not suffered, for he has already been paid the value of his hand and the value of his foot. But if he struck him and his hand withered, or struck him and his foot withered, even if the man would produce ten selas a day, the striker pays him only as an idle laborer of that craft. "Only he shall pay for his loss of time, and shall surely heal him." If sores arose because of the blow, the striker is obligated to heal him and to pay his loss of time; if not because of the blow, he is obligated to heal him but exempt from paying his loss of time, as it is written, "only he shall pay for his loss of time," his loss of time and not the loss of time of his loss of time. "And shall surely heal him." He heals and heals again. Or one might think that even if the victim violated the physician's orders and ate honey or sweets, since honey and sweets are bad for a wound and his wound festered into a fistula, the striker would be liable; therefore Scripture says, "only he shall pay for his loss of time, and shall surely heal him." Another interpretation: "and shall surely heal him," the Torah gave permission to the physician to heal.