Or if it was known that it was a [habitually] goring bull since yesterday and the day before yesterday, and its owner does not watch it, he shall surely pay a bull for a bull, and the dead body shall be his. (Shemos 21:36)

Or if it was known. Or if it was not tame, but it was known that it was a [habitually] goring bull today and from yesterday and the day before yesterday, totaling three gorings. – Rashi
he shall surely pay a bull. The complete damage. – Rashi

Even if it is already completely obvious, still, we must be able to articulate the answer to this question to ourselves and the world. What is the difference between a human being and an animal? Too many have been tricked and trapped into equating the two. For sure, animals and people have certain common feelings and instincts but the differences are too dramatic to ignore. How does the Torah clearly define that distinction?

The Torah outlines clearly the responsibilities of the owner of an ox. If an ox does some unexpected and sudden damage in the marketplace the owner is not held completely accountable. He could not have predicted certain types of wild behavior. It makes sense from the owner’s perspective. If he became totally liable for some erratic behavior of his animal, then the risk of doing business would be too high. No one would allow his beast to travel in a public place.

However, once the ox, a presumed domesticated creature, has damaged three consecutive times, then the owner is put on notice. If his animal damages after that, he will be held completely liable for whatever damage his animal does. Until that point, the owner and the animal escape full damage based on an assumption that the owner could not have predicted his animal’s wild action, but after a string of charges, the owner is forewarned and now completely responsible.

A person has a completely different status. The Mishne in Bava Kama states, “ADAM MUAD L’OLAM!” – “A person is always forewarned, whether unintentional or intentional, whether awake or asleep, he blinded another’s eye or broke vessels, he must pay the full cost of damage. (Mishne Bava Kama 2:6)

A person had no excuses. He must assume personal responsibility for whatever he does. That cannot be stated clearly enough. I have tried to make this an important theme in my approach to educating young people. Every once in a while, a child will be sent into my office all upset. This is the usual dialogue: I will ask him what happened and he sometimes admits to having hit another kid, but he excuses himself by saying, “He made me hit him!” I tell him, “I know you were upset” but I will ask, “Who gave you permission to hit him?” The kid will usually think for a moment quizzically, and say, “Nobody!”

I will ask again, “Who gave you permission to hit him?” The poor kid is confused now. I will ask, “Who thinks in your mind?” The boy will think and say, “ME?!” Then I ask, “Who speaks out of your mouth?” He will now answer immediately, “ME!” Then I inquire, “Who moves your hands?” Now, he will quickly say, “Me of course!” Then I ask again, “Who gave you permission to hit him?” Now it dawns on him, “ME!?”

I remind him, “Now we are talking, exactly!” I tell him, “I can prove it too. Let me ask you another question. If I told you at the very beginning of the day that I would give you $1000 if you didn’t hit anybody all day, would you have hit him?” The kid thinks and answers, NO!” You are responsible for what you think and what you say and what you do!

When parents perceive that an infant smiles, the parents get very excited and when he turns over, they go goo goo gaga, and when he takes his first toddler steps, he is met with a standing ovation. So too, when we lift up our heels three times during KEDUSHA, we are catalyzing and unleashing a holy fire storm in the highest realms.

All this is a reminder for us not to minimize any movement that we make in the right or wrong direction, or any utterance of the tongue, or any quiet thought in the mind. Everything we think and say and do shakes heaven and earth.

The Nefesh HaChaim explains that this is what it means to be made in the “Image of G-d” – a “TZELEM ELOCHIM”. We are amazingly powerful beyond our wildest imagination. Unlike animals, we are born already forewarned and so we are also always responsible.