A Biblical Basis for Personal Injuries Lawsuits

King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new beneath the Sun.”  This ancient adage applies to personal injury litigation.

Jewish law, as expressed in the Talmud, (Rabbinic Commentary on the Jewish Oral Law) compels one who injures a colleague to pay compensation in five ways.  One must pay for the colleague’s pain and suffering, medical bills, loss of past earnings, loss of future earning capacity and embarrassment.  Making restitution in this manner is considered one of the Torah’s 613 commandments.  Wouldn’t President Bush be shocked to know that.

One of the best known and most completely misunderstood verses in all of Scripture is “ayin tachas ayin; shen tachas shen. “  This is generally translated as “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.” (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20)  Many cite this verse in scornful attacks on the “vengeful G-d of the Old Testament.” 

Who can forget Tevye’s line in Fiddler on the Roof in which he decries that we shall all end up “blind and toothless” under this barbarous system?  Two wrongs ironically seem to make a right.  The audience’s laughter betrays a simple ignorance of the true meaning of this verse.

The Talmud proves both logically and through Scriptural analysis that the verse cannot be interpreted literally.  Rashi (the outstanding Biblical commentator of the Middle Ages) explains that “an eye for an eye” is not to be taken literally.  We don’t maim our fellow by taking his eye out or cutting off a limb. 

Rather, the Jewish sages who have interpreted this verse through history hold that “an eye for an eye” refers to monetary compensation.  We fine the offender the value of an eye.  Never has a Jewish court blinded or otherwise inflicted physical injury out of vengeance. 

This Biblically mandated system is not so unlike our own civil justice system of compensation for personal injuries.  If it is a slogan for anything, “an eye for an eye” is a slogan for an entire civil legal system; not criminal and not capital.

Within the context of the Talmud, we learn that this verse of Torah is not indicative of a vengeful G-d.  Rather, it represents G-d’s system of compensation where victim’s rights are protected and the perpetrator comes to understand the gravity of the offense.