Komentarz do Wyjścia 22:14

אם בעליו עמו BUT IF THE OWNER THEREOF BE WITH IT (lit., with “him”) — whether he be employed in the very kind of work for which the animal has been borrowed, or whether he be employed in any other work of the borrower — provided that he (the owner) was employed by the borrower when the loan was effected it is not necessary, in order to free him from restitution that he should be employed by the bailee at the time when the injury or death took place (Bava Metzia 95b).

אם בעליו עמו, during the time the animal performs the work for which it has been loaned out.

אם בעליו עמו לא ישלם, if its owner be present he does not have to pay. We have to consider whether the party exonerated by the Torah in this paragraph is free from restitution only by a human tribunal or whether he is exonerated also vis-a-vis Heaven, i.e. in the Hereafter. Suppose the owner of the universe, G'd, Who has entrusted the soul He has planted in a human body for safe-keeping in his body will demand an accounting from the body when He reclaims an unsullied soul at the death of the person to whom He has entrusted the soul. We read in Deut. 4,9: "you shall guard your soul very carefully." When G'd will reclaim His souls He may find that they have either been "stolen," or "broken," or "captured," or "died." All of these four kinds of "damages" are applicable to souls and may be the result of the person equipped with the respective soul committing various transgressions. [In order to understand what the author refers to the reader has to remember that the author has adopted the concept that each commandment in the Torah corresponds to a specific organ, bone, or sinew of the human body. Non-performance of a commandment is equivalent to maiming that part of the body. Ed.] Some people have their souls "stolen" from them when the person is involved in an encounter with impurity; others lose their soul when involved in a deliberate act of transgression; in such an instance the person is considered as having destroyed the limb or organ charged with performance of that particular commandment. Sometimes a person is guilty of a transgression for which the penalty is כרת, premature death and/or permanent severance from his people. Still others may commit violations punishable with death by a human tribunal. Such sins cause the death of the soul (compare Genesis 17,14). In other cases the soul is merely taken "captive" as per Zohar volume two page 95. When G'd -the owner of the deposit- demands its return in the condition He has deposited it, the spirit is supposed to return to G'd as stated by Solomon in Kohelet 12,7. Our sages in Shabbat 152 interpret this to mean as G'd saying: "give it to Me as it was given to you." Can the keepers, i.e. human beings, decline liability for damage to their soul by basing themselves on the wording in our verse: "if its owner was present, the keeper does not have to pay?" The sages in Baba Metzia 97 state that it is possible for the borrower to escape liability for what he has borrowed if he asks the owner of the article he wishes to borrow to first let him drink some of his water. If the owner agrees, he is considered as in the category described in our verse as having worked with the consent of the owner. The same ruling is applicable to "keepers" (seeing their liability is generally on a lower level than that of the borrower). Seeing that G'd has provided man with his food and drink before man begins to be active on earth, He should be considered as in the category of the lender described in the Talmud, and man should be free from liability for his mistakes.