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Damages – “An Eye for an Eye”

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Damages – “An Eye for an Eye”
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The Torah states, “If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Leviticus 24:19-20). The Sages explain that the offender needs to pay the victim the monetary value of the eye or tooth. (This is a good example of the relationship between the Oral Torah and Written Torah. The Written Torah lays down a principle – that the aggressor deserves to be punished measure for measure. The Oral Torah clarifies this in a precise and practical way.) The payment includes five elements:

  1. Damages – the monetary value of the eye or foot.
  2. Pain – compensation for the physical suffering.
  3. Medical – payment for the doctors and medicine.
  4. Unemployment – payment for the workdays missed.
  5. Embarrassment – compensation for the embarrassment of being beaten and degraded.
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