Parshas Mishpatim
By Rabbi David Zauderer
“… an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot …"(Exodus 21:24)
This is one of a number of cases in the Torah where scripture is not interpreted literally, but according to the tradition that has been handed down orally …the “Oral Torahâ€. Taken literally, it would seem as if one must actually pay for an eye with an eye. But according to the law given to Moses at Sinai, the Torah is speaking of monetary damages, i.e. the responsible party must pay the monetary value for an eye, in restitution for the eye that he had blinded (see Talmud Bava Kama 83 a-b).
One may raise a logical question. Why does the Torah use this ambiguous statement, “an eye for an eyeâ€, which can easily be misinterpreted by nonbelievers? The Torah could have explicitly said, “Monetary damages must be paid for an eye, a tooth, a hand or a footâ€. Then no one would have been able to misinterpret the verse. Good question, right?
One answer offered by Nachmanides and others is that by expressing the punishment literally as “an eye for an eyeâ€, the Torah is teaching us that in the Heavenly scales, the perpetrator truly deserves to lose his own eye for what he did – but the human courts have no authority to do more than require the responsible party to make monetary restitution.
Additionally, the Kabbalists explain that there are many secrets and mysteries clothed in the stories and accounts found in the Torah, so that we will be able to understand them. Each verse can be explained by its literal meaning (peshat), allusion (remez), homiletics (derash), and mystery (sod).
The explanation of the Torah and its commandments was given by G-d to Moses on Mount Sinai, and we must keep the entire Torah according to this explanation. But the Torah had to be written in this ambiguous manner.
So, for example, this verse had to be written, “an eye for an eyeâ€. If it had said, “money for an eyeâ€, we would have understood only the literal meaning. When it says, “an eye for an eyeâ€, many other lessons can also be derived from it.
Either way, Jewish history shows that the verse “an eye for an eye†was interpreted in a non-literal manner by every court from the time of Moses until the present, and – rumors to the contrary notwithstanding - the Jewish courts have not been routinely mutilating people throughout the centuries and millennia.
Truth be told, there have been several occasions in our history when the principle of “an eye for an eye†was applied, although in rather unique ways.
To that end, I would like to share with you two, true, eye-opening, “an eye for an eye†stories of a different kind – together with the important lessons we can learn from them:
In the time of Rav Sherira Gaon (906-1006) there lived a tremendously wealthy individual. Aside for the man’s extreme monetary affluence he also possessed a rare invaluable treasure, a Torah scroll written by Ezra the Scribe.
When the man died, his two sons had a strong disagreement about how to allocate their father’s possessions. Both were willing to forgo all of their father’s wealth so that they could take possession of their father’s ancient Torah scroll. When they presented their case to the Jewish court, the ruling was that they should cast a lottery to determine who would merit possession of the scroll. The ‘loser’ would receive all of the father’s wealth. After the lottery was cast, as can be imagined the winning brother was ecstatic. His brother however, was crestfallen. All of the money he received was little consolation to him.
There was an iniquitous fellow in the town who was very bothered by what had occurred. He was especially angry at the brother who was willing to give up all that money just for one Torah scroll. One night he changed his clothes so that he would not be recognized by the townsfolk, and he entered the synagogue which housed the famous Torah scroll. When everyone had left the synagogue, he clandestinely removed the scroll form the Ark. He rolled it to the words which read, â€œ×•×¢×‘×“×ª× ×ת ×”' ××œ×§×™×›× - And you shall serve the L-ord, your G-d…†(see Exodus 23:25). He scratched out the letter “ayin†in the word â€œ×•×¢×‘×“×ª× â€ and replaced it with the letter ‘alef’, so that the verse now read, “ו××‘×“×ª× - And you will destroy…†With the new blasphemous wording, the entire Torah scroll was rendered unfit for use. The man quietly returned the scroll to the Ark and left.
A few weeks later, when the congregation was reading the portion that contained those words, the ‘mistake’ was realized. One can only imagine the utter shock and devastation of the scroll’s owner. Although the scroll could easily be fixed, the egregious error indicated that the scroll had surely not been written by Ezra the Scribe. The owner was so devastated by the event that he became sick and bedridden.
One night the deceased father appeared to his son in a dream. He reassured his son of the scroll’s authenticity and he revealed what had truly transpired. As a sign that what he was saying was true, the father told his son that he should search underneath the table in the synagogue. There he would find the eyeball of the iniquitous fellow who had committed the deed. This was an apt punishment, based on the verse in Exodus 21:24, “ayin tachas ayinâ€. [The verse literally means, ‘an eye for an eye’ but here was being translated as ‘an eye for an ayin’ - i.e. the letter ayin, which the man had erased.]
From this story we can gain a tiny glimpse into the workings of the “Heavenly scalesâ€, and how G-d metes out justice to each and every person according to his deeds, measure for measure. In this case, it was the eye of the iniquitous man that was removed as punishment for his having removed the letter ayin from the word ×•×¢×‘×“×ª× in the Torah scroll of Ezra the Scribe, thus disqualifying it and blaspheming G-d in the process.
And now for the second, very different, “an eye for an eye†story:
Rabbi Yaakov ben Yosef Reischer (1661–1733) was an Austrian rabbi and famous Halachic authority born in Prague. His first rabbinical position was in Prague, and he then went on to serve as rabbi in Reischer, Worms, and later in Metz. He authored many famous works, including Responsa Shevus Yaakov, Iyun Yaakov, and Toras Chatas. In his introduction to Iyun Yaakov, which is a massive commentary on the classic work Ein Yaakov (lit. “Eye of Jacobâ€, a 17th century collection of all the ethical and inspirational teachings of the Talmud, compiled by Rabbi Yaakov ibn Chaviv), Rabbi Reischer explains that he wrote the book Iyun Yaakov because of a story that happened to him:
It was when he became rabbi in Metz towards the end of his life that he planned on opening a Yeshivah and teaching Torah – but tragically he became very ill and lost his eyesight in both eyes, as well as his ability to teach Torah to his many students.
In his great distress, Rabbi Reischer prayed many heartfelt prayers to G-d, as Jews always do in times of need. He also made the following vow: “If G-d will restore my eyesight, I vow to complete and publish my Iyun Yaakov commentary on Ein Yaakov – ‘an eye for an eye’â€. [In this case, Rabbi Reischer meant that he was promising to ‘pay G-d’ with the publication of his commentary on Ein (“Eyeâ€)Yaakov if G-d would only restore his ‘eye’sight.]
G-d ultimately heard Rabbi Reischer’s prayers and vow and sent him an eye specialist who was able to restore his eyesight and heal him completely. The Rabbi promptly set about fulfilling the vow he had made when he was blind, and he completed and published the enormous commentary Iyun Yaakov on the Ein Yaakov.
This second story teaches us an important lesson as to what a Jew can do in times of great distress in order to alleviate his situation. It is part of our long-standing mesorah (tradition) that one can make a ‘vow’ (just as Rabbi Reischer did in the story) that if G-d will help him out of his difficult predicament, then he will take upon himself to do ‘something special’ for G-d (or for His children) in return. [It goes without saying that the one making the vow to G-d has to be sincere - and realistic – for the vow to work.]
This vow should never be needed by any of us, G-d forbid, but it is still important to know that such an option exists, and that it can work – just as it did for Rabbi Reischer.
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=604