לע"נ החבר ר' מרדכי צבי בן ר' אהרן מנחם שיום הפטירה שלו חל בשביעי של פסח, אביהם של ידידי נפשי האהובים הר"ר חיים שרעק שליט"א והרב הגאון רבי משה שרעק שליט"א.


יה"ר שזכות התורה תעמוד לר' מרדכי צבי ז"ל ויקויים בו בקרוב "הָקִיצוּ וְרַנְּנוּ שֹׁכְנֵי עָפָר" יחד עם כל מתי עם ישראל!

The gemara in Bava Kamma [2b] says as follows:

מאי שנא גבי אדם דכתיב כי יגח ומאי שנא גבי בהמה דכתיב כי יגוף

The Gemara asks: If the two terms are interchangeable, what is different with regard to an ox goring a person that it is written: “And if an ox gores a man or a woman” (Exodus 21:28), and what is different with regard to an ox goring an animal that it is written: “If one man’s ox hurts [yiggof ] the ox of another” (Exodus 21:35)?

אדם דאית ליה מזלא כתיב כי יגח בהמה דלית לה מזלא כתיב כי יגוף

The Gemara explains: With regard to a person, who has the ingenuity to defend himself and is not easily injured, it is written: “If an ox gores,” a term indicating an attack of greater force. With regard to an animal, which does not have the ingenuity to defend itself and is more easily injured, it is written: “If an ox hurts [yiggof ],” a term indicating an attack of lesser force. The term yiggof is related to the term magefa, meaning plague. The Torah employs that term with regard to the goring of an animal to indicate that when an animal is gored, regardless of the force of the blow, it will likely result in its death.

ומלתא אגב אורחיה קמ"ל דמועד לאדם הוי מועד לבהמה ומועד לבהמה לא הוי מועד לאדם

And the Torah’s use of these terms teaches us a matter in passing: Because the effort required for the ox to gore a person to death is greater than the effort required for the ox to gore an animal to death, the halacha is that an ox that is forewarned with regard to goring a person is also forewarned with regard to an animal. But an ox that is forewarned with regard to an animal is not forewarned with regard to a person.

Tosfos writes: 

אפילו לרב פפא דאמר לקמן בשור שנגח ד' וה' (דף לז.) ד‘מועד לאדם סתמא לא הוי מועד לבהמה‘ ...

Implied Question: And even Rav Papa, who holds later in Perek Shor she'Nagach Arba va'Chamishah (on Daf 37.) that 'Mu'ad le'Adam S'tama Lo havi Mu'ad li'Beheimah' - if a person is מועד to gore a person, he is not מועד to gore a בהמה [unlike what the gemara here says] ...

היינו דוקא שנגח ג' בני אדם, דבהכי לא הוי מועד לבהמה, אבל נגח אדם ושור וחמור, דהוי מג' מינים, הוי מועד לכל - אבל נגח שור וחמור וגמל לא הוי מועד לאדם.

(b) Answer #1: That is only where it gored three people [because that shows that the animal only gores people]; but where it gored a person, an ox and a donkey, which are three different species, it is Mu'ad for everything [and that is what the gemara here means when it says מועד לאדם is also מועד לבהמה]. Where however, it gored an ox, a donkey and a camel, it is not a Mu'ad for Adam ...[and that is the meaning of מועד לבהמה is not מועד לאדם]. 

ואע"ג דלכל בהמה הוי מועד, אפילו לרב פפא, כדאיתא התם.

1. Answer #1 (cont.): Even though it is Mu'ad for all kinds of animals, even according to Rav Papa, as the Gemara explains there.

However the Nimmukei Yosef [37a] quotes the רמ"ה who argues:

ומיהו כתב הרמ"ה ז"ל דה"מ לכל מיני בהמות וחיות אבל לאדם דאית ליה מזלא [לעיל דף ב ב] ועוד דכתיב ביה קרא [בראשית ט] ומוראכם וחתכם יהיה וגו' לא ואפילו היכא דהוי אדם חד מינייהו כגון דנגח שור וחמור ואדם לא מצטרפו נגיחות ולא הוי מועד לאדם ולגבי אדם כחדא נגיחה גרידתא דמי: 

We see that the רמ"ה holds that if an animal gores two animals and a person the animal does NOT become a מועד to people - not like Tosfos! 

What is the root of their מחלוקת??

Explained Rav Abba Berman ztz"l:

The רמ"ה holds that when the animal gores three species of animals, we see that the animal is not inclined to gore only one species of animal but all types. But when it comes to the distinction between animals and people things are different. There the רמ"ה holds that since people require a stronger type of goring - נגיחה [since man has מזל and also the pasuk says that "your fear will be on the animals"], if the animal gored a person, an ox and a donkey, there is only one goring of a person and therefore the animal doesn't become a מועד for people. 

Unlike Tosfos, who hold [as the רמ"ה says regarding the goring of 3 different types of animals] that even the distinction between man and animal is rooted in the inclination of the animal to only gore animals or to only gore people. Therefore, if we see that the animal gored a person and two other animals we have an indication that the animal is inclined to gore both humans and animals. Thus, the animal becomes a מועד to all.