{"id":43002,"date":"2023-12-15T01:53:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T09:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=43002"},"modified":"2023-12-14T19:08:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T03:08:26","slug":"torts-and-the-jewish-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/12\/15\/torts-and-the-jewish-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Torts and the Jewish holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m that grown-up who jumps to catch a kid who is about to fall off a playground slide, even if the kid isn\u2019t mine. I\u2019m saying, \u201cHey, be careful!\u00a0 <\/span>You don\u2019t want to hurt your bum,\u201d or whatever concern is applicable. Some feel I\u2019m overprotective. Rather than using unkind words like \u201chovering,\u201d I prefer \u201cproactive worrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt isolated with this habit. Then I got to know the contractors for our home renovation better. The brothers who worked for us were also parents. They did everything possible to keep kids, dog and parents safe as they worked on the house with us living in it. The older brother, the electrician, would spell out exactly which hazards he was trying to avoid. He would close a door, put up a sign saying \u201cPlease stay out\u201d or another proactive way to avoid problems. The day they installed a big new bathtub was a good example. After caulking it, the tub was filled with water to weigh it down and create a good seal. We knew the kids and dog would be very tempted to check it out \u2013 we imagined kids falling in in their clothing, playing with rubber duckies, a dog jumping in and flooding the room. We strategized how to keep everyone away from the tub until the caulk hardened.<\/p>\n

I was surprised when I started studying Bava Kamma, a Babylonian talmudic tractate dedicated to civil law, particularly the law of damages and compensation owed. In \u201cfancy\u201d legal vocabulary, this is tort law, which \u201cprovides damages to victims in compensation for their losses.\u201d The rabbis of the Talmud thought through these issues. They used examples from their day. They talked about oxen that gored, camels that fell (and caused a stumbling block) and other unpredictable situations. I\u2019d heard sermons where people laughed about this level of detail, but my brain returned to those playground moments. Perhaps others don\u2019t take these examples seriously because they\u2019ve never interacted with large, stubborn livestock or a fussy, heavy toddler or two.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of a question posed in a baraita in Bava Kamma 29: \u201cIf one\u2019s jug broke and he did not remove its shards, or if his camel fell and he did not stand it up, Rabbi Meir deems him liable to pay for any damage they cause. The rabbis say that he is exempt according to human laws, but liable according to the laws of Heaven.\u201d So, the understanding is, if you create a dangerous situation, you\u2019re obligated to clean it up. If you don\u2019t clean it up, you\u2019re still responsible for it. You\u2019re guilty even if you don\u2019t owe money as compensation.<\/p>\n

Examples like these keep popping up. This tractate is a Jewish rabbinic lesson in taking responsibility for our actions. How might something we do harm someone? What if it\u2019s an accident, like dropped pottery? What if you purposely left broken glass or pottery that could harm others?<\/p>\n

This ancient rabbinic text can seem dry, as law texts might be, but also relevant. In the last few days, many communities have started to use law as an excuse to exclude public acknowledgement or celebration of Hanukkah. Moncton, N.B., made a name for itself in this way. A Hanukkah candlelighting has been customary there for 20 years. Suddenly, this year, the mayor and council felt it interfered with the separation of church and state. They canceled the event, although Moncton City Hall decorates with angels, a Christmas tree and wreaths. A last-minute petition with many opposing voices succeeded in forcing a new vote that overturned this decision, so the menorah and candlelighting were reinstated.<\/p>\n

Other communities wrestling with this include Williamsburg, in my home state of Virginia. Organizers there suggested that a menorah lighting couldn\u2019t be allowed unless it was under a \u201cceasefire now\u201d banner. In Britain, a London town council reversed their decision to cancel a public menorah lighting after an outcry. Back in Canada, in Calgary, Alta., the mayor canceled her attendance at the city\u2019s public menorah lighting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, the rabbis\u2019 detailed discussions in Bava Kamma make more sense. Their debates explore when someone is wronged by accident, and if they owed compensation. However, they also include the question of responsibility when someone is wronged \u201con purpose.\u201d For example, when a government uses the law to suppress a minority religious observance, like Hanukkah. When this kind of action takes place, it does harm. It does harm beyond whether Jews are legally allowed to light a hanukkiyah in a public place. The message it sends causes bigger damage and fear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, if Jews in Canada or the United States aren\u2019t allowed to publicly celebrate their religious rituals, it feels unsafe to be Jewish in these places. Where is it safe? Most Jews would then think about Israel as being the place where it\u2019s truly safe to be Jewish. The people who want to withdraw public observance of Jewish traditions due to the Israel\/Hamas war send a message to Jews living in North America \u2013 it\u2019s not OK with them to have a Jewish homeland in Israel. It\u2019s also not OK with them for Jews to observe their religion openly here. They probably missed the irony, as their message is that it\u2019s especially not OK when the Jewish holiday is about religious freedom.<\/p>\n

Laws about compensation for damages can sound uninteresting. It becomes more intriguing when imagining an unsafe play structure, a broken piece of pottery or a camel that won\u2019t budge. It gets even more pertinent \u2013 and uncomfortable \u2013 when the law is used to keep us from celebrating our religious traditions freely, in public, without fear, in a democracy.<\/p>\n

While Hanukkah is ending, it\u2019s still the time of year when many indulge in more sweets and tortes than we\u2019d planned. Sadly, it\u2019s a different kind of tort this year, one where we consider how to compensate for the potential loss of religious freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joanne Seiff<\/b> has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m that grown-up who jumps to catch a kid who is about to fall off a playground slide, even if the kid isn\u2019t mine. I\u2019m saying, \u201cHey, be careful!\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to hurt your bum,\u201d or whatever concern is applicable. Some feel I\u2019m overprotective. Rather than using unkind words like \u201chovering,\u201d I prefer \u201cproactive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2517,21777,218,2251,8302,3597,22833,2231],"class_list":["post-43002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-chanukah","tag-hanukkah","tag-judaism","tag-law","tag-lifestyle","tag-politics","tag-religious-freedom","tag-talmud"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}