When a Guardian's Animal Dies, Breaks a Limb, or Is Seized

"If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey" and so forth (Exodus 22:9). Rabbi Yishmael says: he is not liable until the owner formally deposits it with him, saying to him, "Here, guard this for me." But if he merely said to him, "Keep an eye on it," then this man is exempt. "A donkey, or an ox, or a sheep" (Exodus 22:9): from this I would know only of a donkey, an ox, and a sheep; from where do I learn the rest of every kind of beast? Scripture states, "every beast." Then I would read only "every beast" - so why does Scripture say "a donkey, or an ox, or a sheep"? Because had I read only "every beast," I might understand that one is not liable until the owner deposits every kind of beast with him at once; therefore Scripture says "a donkey, or an ox, or a sheep," to impose liability for each one individually. And why does Scripture add "every beast"? The verse comes to teach that whenever a general term is added to a specific list, everything is included in the general term. "And it dies" (Exodus 22:9): that its death is by the hand of Heaven. "Or is hurt": that a wild animal broke it. "Or is driven away": that brigands carried it off. I might still say that breakage and capture, whether he could have rescued it or could not, are exempt; therefore Scripture says "and it dies" - a particular kind of death that he could not possibly prevent exempts from payment, so too anything that he could not possibly rescue exempts from payment. These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva said to him: you are deriving the possible from the impossible! For death can only come by the hand of Heaven, but breakage and capture can come either by the hand of Heaven or by the hand of man. So he went back and reasoned that they fall under the category of theft. Rabbi Yishmael says regarding "he shall not pay for that which was torn" (Exodus 22:12): there is a torn animal for which he does pay, and there is a torn animal for which he does not pay.