Mishpatim: From Goring to Growing: The Path to Transformation
Liluei Nishmas Ita bas Chanoch Aharon Bistritzky
This week's parsha, Mishpatim, discusses many of the civil laws in the Torah, including the laws of damages. One such law addresses the case of an ox that gores and kills another person’s animal. The Torah distinguishes between two types of oxen: a "Shor Tam" (an ox that has never gored before) and a "Shor Mu'ad" (an ox that has gored three times and is now considered habitually dangerous).
If a Shor Tam unexpectedly gores another ox, its owner is only required to pay half the damages (chatzi nezek) since the behavior was unforeseen. However, if an ox has gored three times, it is classified as a Shor Mu'ad, and the owner is now fully liable for any further damage it causes, requiring him to pay the full cost (nezek shalem). The reasoning is that by this point, the owner should have taken precautions to prevent further harm.
Interestingly, the Gemara explains that there is a way for a Shor Mu'ad to revert to being a Shor Tam. One such method is through a change in ownership. If an individual owns a goring ox and then sells it to someone else, the ox’s status resets, and the new owner is only liable for half the damages until the ox gores three more times.
The commentaries offer two explanations for why this is the case. The first explanation is that while the ox itself remains unchanged, the new owner was never warned about its violent tendencies. Since the legal designation of Mu'ad is connected to the owner's responsibility, a new owner starts with a clean slate and is only held fully accountable after receiving three warnings.
The second explanation suggests that the ox’s very nature and mazal (spiritual fortune) change upon entering the possession of a new owner. In Jewish thought, ownership carries a deeper significance—beyond legal responsibility, it can affect the essence of the thing owned. Just as a person’s environment and influences shape behavior, the transfer to a new owner can influence the ox’s disposition. Under this view, the change in ownership isn’t just a technical reset but a transformative shift in the ox itself.
The Rebbe explains that we can derive a powerful lesson from this halacha. Each of us possesses a nefesh habehamis, an animal soul. This coarse, self-centered soul can lead us to act selfishly, to indulge in negative behaviors, and to disregard Hashem’s will.
For many, our animal soul is like a shor tam—it occasionally missteps, but these failings are not defining. However, sometimes, a person may feel trapped in their ways, believing they are a shor muad—someone whose nature is fixed, who repeatedly struggles with the same shortcomings, and who feels there is no way to change. Such a person might think: "This is just who I am. I don’t merely slip up—I am inherently flawed. How can I ever return to a state of purity?"
Yet, just as the Torah teaches that a Shor Mu'ad can revert to a Shor Tam through a change in ownership, we too can transform by transferring our ownership—so to speak—over to Hashem. When a person shifts their mindset and declares, "I am not my own; I belong to Hashem and His will," they redefine their essence. This realignment allows them to break free from past patterns and return to a state of purity and spiritual wholeness.
This concept reinforces the power of teshuvah—not just as a process of repairing the past, but as a means of fundamentally regaining our innocence and purity of a “shor tam.” No matter how deeply ingrained a negative behavior may seem, a person always has the ability to renew themselves, to chart a new path forward, and to reconnect with their truest, most G-dly self.
Adapted from “Life Talks on the Parsha”