Шмот 21:18 Комментарий: Rashi, Chizkuni, Ramban & Or HaChaim

וכי יריבן אנשים AND IF MEN QUARREL — Why is this (vv. 18, 19) stated in this particular form? Since Scripture states, (v. 24) “Eye for eye”, we learn from this only that compensation for the loss of limbs has to be paid, but we cannot infer from it that indemnity for loss of time (during which the injured has been disabled from work) and cost of medical treatment have also to be paid; consequently this section (vv. 18 and 19) is said (Mekhilta).

וכי יריבון אנשים, “if two men engage in an argument that has become physical;” from this wording I might think that the legislation which follows applies only to males, how do we know that it applies equally to females? Rabbi Eliezer says that seeing that when the Torah discusses the subject of compensations for damages caused is written in general terms not mentioning men or women separately and mentions genders only a single time (in verse 29, i.e. that the victim is either man or woman) it is clear that the entire subject applies equally to both sexes.

WITH A STONE OR ‘B’EGROF’ (WITH HIS FIST). Judging from certain expressions of the Rabbis, egrof is the hand closed tightly, with the fingers gathered into the palm for the purpose of striking someone with it. Thus they speak of ba’alei egrofin [literally: “men of fists,” or men of power];¹²⁴Kiddushin 76b. “egrofo (the fist) of Ben Abtiach.”¹²⁵Keilim 17:12. A giant who lived in the time of the Second Sanctuary. Similarly ‘b’egrof’ of wickedness¹²⁶Isaiah 58:4. means the hand of wickedness that strikes. Scripture thus mentioned two kinds of hitting — the hard one, with a stone, and the lighter one, with the fist, which in most cases does not cause death — in order to declare that in both cases an estimate [of the power of the stone or the fist with which he struck him] is needed, and the assailant is meanwhile imprisoned. If the assailed person dies, such as where he struck him a mortal blow, he is a murderer; he shall surely be put to death,¹²⁷Numbers 35:16. but if he does not die, the assailant has to pay him for the loss of his labor and for the cost of the healing.
In the Mechilta [we find the following text]:¹²⁸Mechilta here on the Verse. “Rabbi Nathan says: He has likened the stone to the fist and the fist to the stone. Just as the stone can cause death, so also the blow of the fist must be such that it is capable of causing death. And just as the fist is something that can be identified [and measured for the power of its blow], so also the stone must be such as can be identified. But if the stone with which he struck him became mixed up with other stones, the assailant is free.” This means if the stone became mixed up with other stones, they [e.i., the judges] estimate the lightest one and if it is incapable of causing death, they free the assailant.
Other scholars¹²⁹Ibn Ezra and R’dak (in Sefer Hashorashim, root goraf). have said that the word egrof means “a clod of earth,” the term being derived from the expression: the grains shrivel under ‘megr’fotheihem’ (their clods of earth),¹³⁰Joel 1:17. and the letter alef [in the word egrof is redundant], as is the alef in the word ezro’a [“arm,” where the word is really zro’a]. And this is the opinion of Onkelos who translated b’egrof — b’churmeiza (a piece of white stone or glazed tile). He mentioned these things also in order to tell us that the assailant who hits him with a clod of earth is also liable to be put to death, if he struck him on a sensitive spot where it is capable of causing death. This is to distinguish the law of the sword from the stone and egrof, for no estimate [of a sword or weapon] needs to be taken [since even a minute piece of metal — such as a needle — can also cause death], as the Sages have mentioned.¹³¹Sanhedrin 76b.