Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Exodo 22:4

הניזקין שמין להם בעידית – Even though that it is from Torah, as it is written (Exodus 22:4): “[When a man lets his lifestock loose to graze in another’s land, and so allows a field or a vineyard to be grazed bare,] he must make restitution (from the best) for the impairment of that field or vineyard.” This Tanna [of our Mishnah] thinks that it is the best field of the one who suffered damage that is spoken of in the Biblical verse, but for the sake of the social order, the Sages said that the one who caused the damage should pay from the best of his property, even if they (i.e., his properties) are better than the best of the one who suffered the damage, in order that we should be careful from causing damage.

השור – this is the foot, meaning, what the animal damages with her feet while she is walking, as it is written (Exodus 22:4): “When a man lets his livestock loose [to graze in another’s land, and so allows a field or a vineyard to be grazed bare],” and teaches "ושלח" /”lets loose” – this is the foot and similarly he states (Isaiah 32:20): “Who let loose the feet of cattle and asses,” and it is a derivative of the foot when it (i.e., the animal) causes damage with its body while walking or with its hair while walking when utensils became attached to the hair and [the animal] dragged them and broke them, or with the saddle bag that is upon it. And this is a burden that is in large sacks, and the packing bags that are upon her or in the bell that is on her neck.

1. There are four primary causes of injury: the ox and the pit and the crop-destroying beast and fire. 2. [The distinctive feature of] the ox is not like [that of] the crop-destroying beast, nor is [the distinctive feature of] either of these, which are alive, like [that of] fire, which is not alive; nor is [the distinctive feature of] any of these, whose way it is to go forth and do injury, like [that of] the pit, whose way it is not to go forth and do injury. 3. What they have in common is that it is their way to do injury and that you are responsible for caring over them; and if one of them did injury whoever [is responsible] for the injury must make restitution [to the damaged party] with the best of his land. The four causes of injury mentioned in the first clause mishnah are all derived from the Torah: the ox (Exodus 21:35-36), the pit (Exodus 21:33-34), the crop-destroying beast (Exodus 22:4) and fire (Exodus 22:5). The mishnah then raises a question generally asked in midrashic texts (texts that explain the Torah): why does the Torah need to mention all four types of injury? In other words, why couldn’t the Torah have mentioned one, two or three primary causes of injury, from which we would have learned the rest? The Rabbis believed that no law in the Torah was superfluous and therefore each must come to teach us something that we could not have learned from the other laws. The mishnah therefore explains that each “cause of injury” has its unique characteristic and therefore we would not have been able to derive the laws of the other causes of damages without all four examples in the Torah. Note how the mishnah is both dependent on, yet independent from the Torah. This is typical of Jewish oral Torah; it explains the Torah yet it can usually be understood on its own. Questions for further thought:  What type of injury does an ox cause? What therefore is the difference between an ox and a crop-destroying beast?  The Mishnah tells you things that you are obligated to watch and that if they are yours and they injure you will have to pay the damaged party. Is there anything you can already imagine for which a person will not be obligated if it causes damage? (We will learn the answers to these questions as we go on, but it is worthwhile to start thinking of them now).

Let his intermediate-quality land be classified as superior-quality - since it is considered "excellent" [Exodus 22:4] as far as he is concerned.