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+---- Thread: Damages (/showthread.php?tid=1887)
Damages - amenyahu - 09-13-2012
Hi AskNoah,
As I'm trying to work out the details of the law of theft, I've read in the Divine Code the basic definition of theft and what makes one liable for theft, that it must be outright theft (although there is some debate about whether land is included), i.e., the taking of someone else's property without their volitional unforced consent.
What I would like to know is whether damage to a person's property or body is included in that capital offence prohibition or whether such acts are linked to theft and thus are forbidden but do not make one liable to get the death penalty. Seeing the basic definition of theft, personally, it seems like a forbidden act but not a capital crime. Am I wrong? Could you give some clarity please? If there is a source that I'm allowed to read, could you give that as well please?
Thanks and have a good new year.
RE: Damages - Director Michael - 09-14-2012
Rabbi Moshe Weiner explains in his book "Sheva Mitzvot HaShem", Vol. 2, Part 7 (The Prohibition of Theft), Ch. 11 (Bodily Injury and Damaging Another’s Property):
Quote:For Gentiles, damaging another person's property or body (non-lethal) is forbidden as an offshoot of the prohibition of theft, and the perpetrator is fully liable to pay monetary compensation to the victim. It appears that this is included in Ramban’s explanations of Genesis ch. 34, that part of the commandment for a Noahide justice system includes judging based on laws of injuries and damages, and penalizing offenders. However, it is not a capital offense within Torah Law for Gentiles, and the perpetrator would not be liable to capital punishment from a Noahide court.
In order to be forgiven by G-d, the one who did the wrong (the sin) must repent, and pay all the restitution that is owed to the victim, and he must ask the victim for forgiveness until he is forgiven. If he pays the restitution and asks for forgiveness, the victim has a moral obligation to forgive. If the victim refuses to forgive, the one who did the injury does not have to ask more than three times.