Taking Responsibility

I was convinced that I needed to start posting halacha here again by a verse from last week’s Torah portion. Exodus 21:29 says, “And if the ox gored yesterday and the third day, and the owner was told and did not guard it, and it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and also its owner shall die.”

The sages in the Mishnah established a general rule based on this principle. In the Mishnah, tractate Baba Qamma 1:2 the sages explain that if I am responsible for something and it does damage to anyone or anything, I am considered responsible for the damage it has done. Basically, I am not only responsible for what I do, I am responsible for what I should have done, and did not. I can’t say “I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.” My only defense is if I can say “I was trying not to hurt anyone.” If someone was hurt in spite of everything I could do to prevent it, I am not responsible.

Neusner explains it well, “what God wants a person to do is take responsibility for his or her own actions, accountability for the results of what chattel belonging to him or her has done—no more, no less.” (Making God’s Word Work, 199)

The Talmudic sages clarified and limited exactly what this means. First, I had to know and be warned ahead of time that damage could come about. The meaning of “if the ox gored yesterday and the third day” is that this ox had a habit of causing injury. I can’t be held responsible if I had no way of knowing that someone was likely to get hurt. Even if there was a pattern, I am not held as responsible for my possessions causing damage as if I did it myself. The basic idea is that if I hurt someone, I am responsible not only for the damage, but for my intent to cause damage. If I am only guilty of neglect, I must pay for the damage, but not for my intentions. (BT, Baba Qamma 9B-10A)

As I read this, I was reminded of what James tells us, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.” (Jas 3:1-2, NRSV)

I am not a perfect man, and I make many mistakes, and I’m not free of the pride and ambition that James goes on to describe in this chapter. But if I fail to share what I do know, I am just as guilty as if I speak wrongly. As Rabbi Tarfon said, “You are not required to complete the work, but you are not free to cease from it.” (M. Pirkei Avot 3:21)

Let me leave you for this week with a challenge and a question: what responsibility are you neglecting, and what damage could it cause?