Q&A: He’s Missing a Screw
He’s Missing a Screw
Question
Last night, before a special trip to a serious ride that lifts people up to a height of 80 meters and spins powerfully, going up and down — and of course costs a lot of money —
in short, a pretty serious fun-and-terror kind of thing —
one of them felt like joking around and took from home an old, rusty, large, strange screw (from the house’s old fence) and hid it in his pocket.
After they had settled into the seats and gone up to 80 meters, he rebuked the person in front of him and shouted, “What did you do?!
Look — you shook hard and made this screw fall out. In another second you and the seat are going to go flying down to your death!”
The one sitting in front of him understood that he was just about to die, and began reciting the confession before death and shouting “Hear O Israel,” etc., and repented.
Of course, in the end, when the ride stopped and they got down safely, he told the newly repentant fellow that it was a screw from home, nothing had happened, and he had just been joking at his expense.
The victim claims: 1. that the joker has to ask forgiveness for the fright, and 2. that he has to reimburse the price he paid for the ride in order to enjoy it, whereas in practice he suffered mortal terror, literally.
The prankster claims: that this is only indirect causation, and anyway the other guy actually owes him money, because thanks to him he merited to repent fully.
What is the ruling?
Answer
It is stated at the beginning of the chapter HaKones: one who frightens another is exempt in human courts but liable in the judgment of Heaven. And the Meiri there cites the Ba’al HaHashlama as saying that this refers to monetary liability in the judgment of Heaven, except that a religious court does not compel payment for it (and this is not a punishment imposed from Heaven). He writes that one who does not pay is a thief and disqualified from testimony — meaning there is a full legal obligation to pay.
However, this payment is for the fright itself (and the assessment is made like damages for humiliation), not for the price of the ride ticket, since regarding that it is only indirect causation. But in that same Talmudic passage it is explained that one who causes damage indirectly is also exempt in human courts but liable in the judgment of Heaven.
As for the excuses that he caused him to repent — I see no reason to take them seriously. This fellow himself needs to do a great deal of repentance, both for his actions and for his excuses, and if he does not pay he is wicked and disqualified from testimony.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Michael,
This is something that’s been irritating me for a long time — all these pranks in the name of laughs and “just go with it.”
Like the show Ambush, which in my opinion is blatantly immoral and forces the participants to play along so they won’t come off as uptight.
It’s a moral disgrace, isn’t it?
I don’t know what you’re talking about. And how is that connected to this?
With God’s help, 29 Tammuz 5782
On the contrary, the whole “fun” of the ride is that you enter a state of dread and fear. If so, one could say that the person who intensified his friend’s fear caused him to have a genuine experience of terror, an experience he’ll never forget 🙂 And besides the thoughts of repentance that cleansed him of all his sins. So the frightener deserves double “fun compensation” 🙂
Regards, the Rabbinical Court of the Four Lands