DEUT1444 The rabbis, taking their cue from the Torah, instructed that the essence of prayer, the Amidah, be a silent prayer, so that when people enumerated their personal sins, they could not be overheard (Sotah 32b). Jewish law is often more sophisticated and sensitive then courts of the twentieth century. One of the five categories of payment for damages was to be for embarrassment, based on [this] Torah verse. Even though this payment was subjective and according to strict rules of embarrassment (Maimonides, Hilchot Chovel Umazik 3:1 and 3:7), nevertheless, the Talmud (Bava Kamma 90b) states that the "lowest" poor person still was paid for embarrassment since he is a member of the Jewish people, giving him stature and dignity.