Bava Kamma 87b

בבא קמא פ״ז ע״ב

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Topic

Who receives the injury payments when a father or others injure a daughter or son: רב's view that the Torah gave the father only שבח נעורים, and the challenges to it.

Overview

רב rules that when someone injures a young daughter, the payment goes to her, because the Torah gave the father only שבח נעורים. רבי אלעזר objects from the עבד עברי and from a ברייתא that says others who injure a minor daughter pay her father. Both objections are answered: the father gets only שבת (lost work time), since her earnings are his. The גמרא then finds two ברייתות that disagree about a father who injures his own adult son. It settles them by asking whether the children are supported at his table. Defending that answer, it explains that a self-supporting daughter keeps what she needs for food and only the surplus goes to her father. It also explains that a supporting father lets his children keep injury money from outsiders, unlike a strict father who claims even that. Next the גמרא defines סגולה as a ספר תורה or a fruit-bearing date palm. Finally it brings ריש לקיש and רבי יוחנן arguing over the same question and begins to challenge רבי יוחנן's view about a mere wound, a challenge that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. Responseרב: the father gets only the profits of her youth
2. ChallengeObjection from the Hebrew slave
3. Resolutionאביי: רב agrees about lost work time
4. ChallengeObjection: others who injure her pay the father
5. ResolutionHere too, it means lost work time
6. ChallengeContradiction about injuring one's own adult son
7. ResolutionIt depends on whether they eat at his table
8. ChallengeIf the daughter is not supported by her father, why does her father collect?
9. ChallengeEven a Hebrew slave must be fed, so surely a daughter must be
10. ResolutionThe father gets only the surplus
11. ChallengeIf the children are supported by their father, why don't they pay him?
12. ResolutionA father only minds about money that would come from his own pocket
13. ChallengeBut a found item also comes from outside, and the father takes it
14. ResolutionInjury money is different because the child suffered pain
15. ChallengeBut the first ברייתא gives injury money from outsiders to the father
16. ResolutionThe father in the first ברייתא is a strict man
17. QuestionWhat is the safe investment?
18. ResponseA Torah scroll or a date palm
19. Statementריש לקיש and רבי יוחנן argue about the daughter's injury money
20. ChallengeCan the father really get money for a mere wound?