LEV936 Dwell in a sukkah for the seven days of Sukkos. In order to recall the great miracles that Hashem performed for our forefathers in the desert when He took them out of Egypt. He surrounded them with the Clouds of Glory, so that the hot sun would not harm them during the day, nor the cold during the night. Some explained that our forefathers built their own huts in the desert, and we, too, build such temporary structures and dwell in them on Sukkos. Through remembering the great wonders that Hashem did for our forefathers and continues to do for us, we are careful to keep His mitzvos. Thereby, we become worthy to receive His blessings, which pleases Him, for He desires to bestow of His Good upon us.

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LEV937 See [[DEUT934]] Deuteronomy 18:22 prophet DORFFDRAG 40-1

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LEV938 Oppressive Speech (ona’at devarim). Aside from lies and slander, which one might have guessed would be banned in Jewish law, and aside from telling tales, negative truths, and even the “dust” of such language, about which readers might not have thought previously, Jewish law bans another form of speech that it calls “oppressive.” The foundation for this prohibition is two verses in the Torah that assert that we must not wrong one another: “When you sell your property to your neighbor, or buy any from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another” (Leviticus 25:14); and “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God, for I, the Lord, am your God” (Leviticus 25:17). The Rabbis, following the interpretive principle that nothing in the Torah is superfluous or redundant, determined that the first verse applies to wronging one another in material goods, as the context suggests, and the second, which actually ends the same section about buying and selling, nevertheless refers to wronging people through words: “Our Rabbis taught: “‘Do not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:17). Scripture refers to verbal wrongs.” “You say verbal wrongs, but perhaps that is not so but rather monetary wrongs is meant?” “When Scripture says, ‘You shall not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:14), monetary wrongs are already dealt with. Then to what can I refer ‘Do not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:17)? To verbal wrongs” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 58b). The Mishnah and Talmud then define what is included in this ban on verbal oppression: “Just as there is wronging others in buying and selling, so too there is wronging another done by words. [So, for example,] one must not ask another, “What is the price of this article?” if he has no intention of buying. If a person repented [of his sin], one must not say to him, “Remember your former deeds.” If a person is a child of converts, one must not say to him, “Remember the deeds of your ancestors,” because it is written [in the Torah], “You shall neither wrong a stranger nor oppress him” (Exodus 22:20). – Mishnah, Bava Metzia 4:10 (58b]

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LEV940 See [[EXOD738]] Exodus 22:27 revile CCCBM 153-5

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LEV939 See [[EXOD737]] Exodus 22:27 curse CHINUCH 45-6

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LEV941 See [[EXOD542]] Exodus 21:12 death OXFORD 480

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LEV942 See [[EXOD581]] Exodus 21:22 fined SPERO 287

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LEV943 See [[LEV938]] Leviticus 24:14 wrong DORFFWITO 86-7

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LEV944 We are forbidden to damage property, and are held liable if we do. 1) You may not damage the property or belongings of others. (Choshen Mishpot 378:1). [This] verse states that a person is held financially responsible for damage he causes, but does not explicitly state that it is forbidden to damage. Rabainu Yonah (commentary to Pirke Avos 1:1) writes that all acts of damaging are included in the prohibition against stealing. The Yad Rama states that damaging others is a violation of the commandment to love our fellow man. Rabbi Yisroel Yaakov Kaniewsky writes that we learned it is forbidden to damage from the commandment to return lost objects. If we are obligated to return lost objects to their owner, then surely we must not damage something that belongs to another person. (Kehilos Yaakov, Bava Kamma 1). 2) If you damaged someone's property or possessions, you must pay him regardless of whether or not you derived any benefit from your actions. (Choshen Mishpot 378:1). 3) You are held responsible even when you caused damage accidentally. For example, you are held liable for damage if you trip and fall on top of someone's belongings and thereby break them (ibid.). However, since there are exceptional instances of accidental damage when a person is not held liable (such as when a person is climbing up a strong ladder and a rung slips out causing the person to fall and break something -- Choshen Mishpot 378:3) a halachic authority should be consulted whenever a question arises. 4) You are held liable for damage you caused regardless of whether you caused damage with your hand, foot, or body or if you caused damage by throwing a stone, shooting an arrow, or squirting water. (ibid. 384:1). 5) If you are banging something with a hammer and a fragment shoots out and causes damage, you are responsible to pay. (ibid. 384:2). 6) Reuven has a document which verifies that Shimon owes him money. If you burn that document and consequently Reuven will be unable to collect the loan, you must pay Reuven the amount that was stated in the document. Even though you only burned a piece of paper, the damage is assessed according to the loss suffered by the owner of the document. (ibid. 386:2)

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LEV945 The firm foundation of the social order is justice. It probably dawned early in man's development as the simple rule which places all members of the tribe as equals before the chief and before the deity. In its forensic form it is embodied in the lex talionis, of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." "As one does so shall it be done to him" (Exodus 21:24; this and next verse). The rule of like for like applied only to tribesman. To strangers the rule of the jungle applied, of doing to them whatever was within one's power. Within the widening of social relations and sympathies, justice extended the sphere of its operations beyond the limits of the group and became intertribal and national, and it steadily strives to become international. (The primitive nature of the lex talionis showed itself in the mechanical mode of its execution, which ignored the total effect of its operation upon the victim. Pharisaic Judaism mitigated its harshness by introducing monetary compensation for physical injuries. "An eye for an eye" was interpreted to mean payment for the loss of the eye."

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