Parshat Mishpatim

DAMAGE CONTROL

Chaim, what is that on your arm?

It's a cast, Avi.

Oy vey. What happened?

I broke my arm.

Oy vey vey vey. You should have a "refuah shelaymah"(speedy recovery).

Thank you so much, Avi.

If you don't mind my asking, Chaim, how did it happen?

I was walking home from school, and I slipped on a skateboard that someone had left on the sidewalk. I fell down right onto my left arm and broke it.

I'll bet that hurt.

It sure did. But you know there is a positive side to everything.

Really, Chaim. If you can find a positive side to falling down and breaking your arm, then you deserve a big reward.

I can really appreciate the Torah's laws of damages.

Where does the Torah mention damages, and what type of damage does the Torah talk about?

Believe it or not Avi, it is in this week's Torah portion, Parshas Mishpatim. The Torah mentions property damage and personal injury. In my case, someone was careless and left their skateboard in a public area. They are responsible for the damage that the skateboard causes.

Does the Torah mention bicycle riding?

Not exactly, but the Talmud in tractate Bava Kamma writes about speeding through a public place. A person is responsible to drive or walk safely.

Really Chaim. This is so interesting. Please tell me more.

If we have pets or other animals, we must make sure that they do not hurt other people or damage their property. If we start a fire, we must make sure that it does not burn out of control. When we borrow something from someone, we must be sure to return it to him in the same condition that we received it. If it is lost or stolen, we must pay for it.

Chaim, I thought these things were all common sense.

They are Avi, but they are from the Torah. Most of the important ideas and laws in the world have their origins in the Torah. The Torah is G-d's wisdom. He has a lot more common sense than we do.

After what happened to you, I am sure that you will never leave anything dangerous lying on the sidewalk.

That is for sure, Avi. As I said, there is a positive side to everything. After reading about these laws in this week's Torah portion, I realize how careful a person must be not to hurt others. Having things is a privilege, but also a responsibility. We must make sure that we use them in a safe way. We also have to be careful that we ourselves do not do something reckless to hurt someone. Safety and consideration are very important Torah laws.

I guess you can say that the Torah is concerned about "damage control", Chaim.

You're not kidding, Avi. Don't wait until an accident happens. Start your "damage control" now, before it is too late.

Answer to Last Week's Question

Mrs. Frumer asked the class to see if they could find the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. As everyone settled down to do their addition, Tamar ran to her and said, "The sum is 2,500." Mrs. Frumer thought, "lucky guess," and gave him the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Within 20 seconds, Tamar was back with the correct answer of 5,625.

How does Tamar find the sum so quickly?

The Answer:

The following pattern holds: The sum is equal to n x n, when n is the number of consecutive odd numbers, starting with 1. For example, the sum of the first 3 odd numbers is equal to 3 x 3, or 9; the first 4 odd numbers is equal to 4 x 4, or 16; the first 5 odd numbers is equal to 5 x 5, or 25; and so on.

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