EXOD576 See [[EXOD229]] Exodus 15:26 diseases ROSNER 20-1

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EXOD577 Visiting the Sick, Bikkur Holim. "A master said that the Torah's phrase about a man injured in a fight, 'He must walk' [this verse] is, by implication, the source of the commandment that we must visit him until he is up and about. As that master also taught, the bikkur holim of a person the same age as the sick one takes one-sixtieth of the stricken one's illness away with him when he leaves. Although even that slight exposure to illness might deter people from visiting the sick, we have a text indicating that he still must visit him" (Bava Metzia 30b). According to the Hafetz Hayyim, the late ninetheeth century Polish sage, visiting the sick has no fixed measure of stature or time. "Someone who is quite distinguished is required to visit a person of more ordinary accomplishment. Should it be desirable, this mitzvah is to be performed even several times a day" (Ahavat Hesed [Love of kindness]). A non-rabbinic kal ve-homer argument (reasoning that proves from the trivial what is true in a weightier matter): Forward-looking physicians, experimenting with ways to help the elderly keep their dignity as they get frail, have discovered that occasional but regular visits by very young children revitalize nursing home residents, despite significantly raising the noise and activity levels. Their research has also found that cuddling dogs and cats and responsibly caring for plants positively affect the quality and length of life of the aged. If even superficial contact with plants, animals, and kids is beneficial to the elderly (kal), how much more so would be visits by adults of their acquaintance (homer)?

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EXOD578 See [[EXOD229]] Exodus 21:31 rule OXFORD 40

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EXOD579 Jewish courts must administer capital punishment by means of the sword. Violators of certain Torah commandments must be put to death by means of the sword. For example, if a man smites his servant and kills him, it is a mitzvah for the court to put the killer to death by means of the sword. Such is the law even if the murdered servant was a Canaanite. Hashem wants to rid the Jewish nation of all traces of evil and cruelty. Therefore, if someone is so overcome by anger that he smites and kills a person, Hashem commands the courts to put the killer to death by means of the sword. Those who are empowered to execute the killer nullify a positive commandment if they do not do so. Their punishment is great, for their negligence creates many problems for society.

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EXOD580 The Talmud clearly states that causing someone else bodily harm is forbidden, just as causing bodily harm to oneself, is forbidden. Bava Kama 91b. If harming another human being intentionally is forbidden, then all wrestling and certainly all boxing should be forbidden for a Jew. And yet we see that these sports are permitted in certain circumstances. How can this be? Maimonides helps to provide an answer to this question. Although he rules it is forbidden to harm one's own body and certainly someone else's body, the prohibition is only if it is done between two people so angry at each other that they come to blows. Maimonides, Hilchot Chovel U'Mazik 5:1. The wording of Maimonides, "Derech Nitzayon" -- "In a manner of arguing," is based on the Torah word in the verse describing two people arguing that and then coming to blows (and accidentally striking a pregnant woman). (This verse with Rashi commentary). Therefore, only if people were arguing with each other and intending to cause bodily harm out of anger would a person be forbidden from striking another person. But a blow to the body in the course of a sporting match apparently would be permitted.

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EXOD582 Some religions, such as the Catholic Church, believe that life itself begins at conception. Others believe that life begins only at birth and that prior to birth there is no life concept at all. Where does Judaism stand on this issue, whose corollary will determine the view on abortion? Unlike the two "extreme" views, Judaism believes that taking the life of a fetus does not receive the death penalty in the time that the religious court system was functioning), as does one who takes the life of a one-day-old infant Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 2:6. A baby a day old (or a few minutes old) is treated as a full life in every way and has equality of life with the mother. Sanhedrin 72b However, a fetus has worth in Judaism, as a potential life, if not actual life, and therefore one who accidentally destroys a fetus pays a fine, according to Jewish law, but is not totally exempt in the eyes of the Torah [this verse] According to some opinions Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 1:9, the fetus is considered an actual life, but since it has not yet been born and has not yet shown that it is viable, it is treated only as potential life. Other opinions Rashi on Sanhedrin 72b state that until the fetus is born, it has no status of a life at all. Either way, the status of the fetus is potential, not actual life. Therefore, abortions are permitted in Judaism only if it is to save a life of the mother Mishnah, Ohalot 7:6 since that is a case of actual life versus potential life. But one may not abort a fetus for any other reason except to save an actual life, since the fetus' status as a potential life is sacred as well. Some authorities have extended the concept of saving the mother's life to the psychological sphere as well, so that if there is a potential that the mother's life maybe threatened, for example, the mother may commit suicide if she has to child, these authorities permit abortion. Responsa of Tzitz Eliezer, vol. 7, sec. 48, chap. 1, para. 8 and vol 8. sec. 36.

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EXOD583 Though the type of compensation is clear, the exact nature of the compensation is not. The question in this case is one of compensation, as in the rest of the compensation cases listed in chapter 21 of Exodus, for the principal injury to the woman, or, the lesser to the child. The question is whether this potential child has any inherent value or not. Rashi, again basing himself on Mechilta, states that the compensation is payment of the value of the fetus to the husband, by estimating the market value of a woman slave who was pregnant and of a woman slave who is not pregnant. The difference in the market value between them is the value of the fetus. It appears that in the evaluation of the compensation, at least, the fetus did have some inherent value – albeit not that of human life. Clearly, feticide is not linked with homicide at this level of argumentation. This point is confirmed by the rabbinic interpretation of the continuation of Exodus 21:23: "If any harm follows, they shall give life for life…". Here this compensation refers to the "harm" done to the woman. The death of the woman is then divided according to the formulation common in the capital punishment cases: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc.," a formulation usually understood as representing monetary compensation and not the actual taking of life for life. In the case of the death of the woman (i.e., life for life) there is a dispute among the rabbis as to whether the penalty for the perpetrator should actually be the death penalty or monetary compensation. Sanhedrin 79a.

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EXOD581 Killing a fetus is not considered murder. The punishment prescribed is monetary compensation (Based on this and preceding verse, and Leviticus 24:17).

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EXOD584 Abortion of a fetus, soon after conception, is an act of aggression prohibited in the Bible [this and following verse]. According to the Talmud, the killing of a fetus does not constitute murder and is not a capital offense (Sanhedrin 57b). A fetus may be aborted if the mother's life is endangered by the pregnancy (Ohalot 7:6). Abortion for the sake of destroying a defective child is not permissible, unless it is essential to the preservation of the physical and emotional health of the mother.

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EXOD585 See [[EXOD543]] Exodus 21:12 man ROSNER-BLEICH 120

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