If two people were walking in the public thoroughfare, one was running, and one was walking, or both were running and did damage to one another, both are not liable to pay damages.Said Rabbi Yochanan, - This ruling only talks about the time right before Shabbat, when running for the sake of Shabbat is allowed, but otherwise the one who runs is liable.
Suppose one chops wood in the public domain and thereby does damage in the private domain, or chops in the private domain and damages something in the public domain, or chops in private and damages something in the private domain. In all the cases, he is liable for full damages.
Art: Two Young Women Walking by George Frederick Watts
2 comments:
So is the point here that we have the opposite of yesterday's case of the potters in the case of Shabbas? Yesterday, we learned that a penalty applies (so there IS fault) in most or all cases. In other words, the Rabbi's tell the people that they've got to be super careful about causing harm, because even a perfectly reasonable excuse can't get you out of paying damages.
But today, we learn that one excuse gets you out of a negligence rap even if you were running and you ran into someone walking - a very broadly defined pardon. And that excuse is that you were running to avoid violating the Shabbas.
If that's a correct interpretation, you need to reexamine your last comment yesterday. I don't have it in front of me but it was something like "Bava Kamma makes you smart because you can't just easily say "forbidden" in a case where there are relative harms to different parties." Well, guess not. the exhortation that you should be as kosher as possible sneaks in by the back door.
Matt,
more and more elucidations are required. The previous case of two potters was a case were they had time. They could have stood up and cleared the way, or at least they could have warned the next fellow. They didn't, and thus were negligent and liable.
Today's case of two lovely girls colliding is a case where they had no time to think. They ran into each other. Therefore, they are not liable. Even though man is liable for damages done with his body even by mistake, here it is completely unpredictable, not even a mistake. Their intent was to run or walk, and they bumped into something unexpected.
As far as running before Shabbat, it is simply a description of the situation. People were running before Shabbat. Even so, it was not required and in fact not recommended. They should have prepared before. This was a dispensation though, and the Talmud gives the following examples. Rabbi Chanina would say, “Let us go meet the Bride,” and Rabbi Yannai would dress in his fine garments and stand there, saying “Welcome, Bride, welcome, Bride.”
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