When Fire Goes Out and How Ruin Begins With the Righteous

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 345:3

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"When a fire goes out" (Exodus 22:5) - why is this said? So that one should not say: I could argue by law, since one is liable when fire spreads by way of thorns, surely one should not be liable through one's own act. And if I am acquitted by the argument, why does Scripture say "when a fire goes out"? Rather, Scripture comes to treat the accident like the intentional act, the unintentional like the intentional, and the woman like the man, in all the damages in the Torah. "And finds thorns" - the thorns are mentioned only to set a measure: if there are thorns there is a measure, and if there are no thorns there is no measure. From here they said: if a fire crossed a river, a road, or a wall higher than ten handbreadths, and caused damage, one is exempt from paying. How is the matter assessed? One sees it as though he stood in the middle of a field of a kor's size and kindled - the words of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah. Rabbi Eliezer says: sixteen cubits, like a public road. Rabbi Akiva says: fifty cubits. Rabbi Shimon says: "he who kindled the blaze shall surely make restitution" - all according to the fire. It happened that a fire crossed the Jordan and caused damage, because it was great. "And a stack of grain is consumed" - everything is included: bundles of reeds, courses of stones prepared for lime. "Or the standing grain" - even the tree is included. "Or the field" - even if it scorched the soil. "He who kindled the blaze shall surely make restitution" - why is this said? Because it says "a man"; from "a man" I would know only a man. A woman, one of doubtful sex, one of double sex - from where? Scripture says "he who kindled," in any case. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: punishment does not come to the world except when the wicked are in the world, and it begins only with the righteous first, as it says "when a fire goes out and finds thorns." When does the fire go out? When the wicked are present. And it begins only with the righteous, as it says "and a stack of grain is consumed" - it does not say "and it consumes a stack" but "a stack is consumed," teaching that it was already consumed. Rav Ami and Rav Asi were sitting before Rabbi Yitzchak Nappacha. One said to him, let the master tell us a matter of law; the other said, let the master tell us a matter of aggadah. He began to say law and the one would not let him; he began to say aggadah and the other would not let him. He said to them: I will tell you a parable. To what is the matter like? To a man who had two wives, one young and one old. The young one plucked out his white hairs, the old one plucked out his black hairs, and he was left bald on both sides. He said to them: I will tell you a matter that suits you both. "When a fire goes out" - of itself. "He who kindled the blaze shall surely make restitution" - the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I set fire in Zion, as it says "and He kindled a fire in Zion" (Lamentations 4:11), and I am destined to rebuild it with fire, as it says "and I will be to her, says the LORD, a wall of fire around, and for glory I will be in her midst" (Zechariah 2:9). The law: Scripture opened with damage by one's property and concluded with damage by one's body, to tell you that one's fire is treated as one's arrows.

Themes

Divine JusticeExileRedemption

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