According to the Torah’s laws, one who digs a pit into which an ox falls and is killed must pay the ox’s owner the value of the animal, for it is written “And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his” (Exodus 21:33-34). The early sages drew a distinction between the estimated depth of pit which could kill an ox and that which could only harm one. The depth of pit which was considered an obstacle able to kill an ox is a meter or deeper, the measure they called 10 tefachim or more. A pit which is less than 10 tefachim can harm an ox which falls into it, but not kill him. The scholars disagreed about the reason the Torah made the one who dug the pit liable for the damage caused. According to one scholar, Rav, the digger must pay the value of the dead ox because the air of the pit killed him, not the impact with the ground, for in his opinion damage or death caused by the ground is not the responsibility of the pit digger, as it is not his. According to a different scholar, Samuel, the digger should also be liable for the damage caused by impact with the ground. The difference between them also extends to the legal ruling when a person has made a mound or build a step a meter tall form which an ox fell and died. According to the one who says that the damage is due to the air, there is no such damaging air in a fall from a mound or step, so the maker is exempt. To his mind, this damaging air exists only in closed places like pits and not in open places like steps. According to the one who says that payment must be made even for impact, one who builds a high step which causes an ox to fall and die must also pay the value of the ox. The scholars asked: If so, why did the early sages hold one who digs a pit less than ten tefachim dig liable for damage to the ox? In a pit shallower than ten tefachim there is no damaging air. Answer: There is no damaging air which could cause the ox’s death, but there is air which could cause damage. There was an incident with an ox which fell into a water channel sixty centimeters deep, less than ten tefachim, and its owners immediately slaughtered it for consumption. Rav Nachman ruled that this ox was tereifah and forbidden for consumption because the blow he received from the fall was likely to cause his death during the year following the fall. (The Halachic definition of tereifah is any defect, illness, internal injury, or the like which would cause the animal’s death within a year of infliction.) The scholars asked: Why, then, did the early sages exempt one who digs a pit of less than ten tefachim in depth? According to Rav Nachman, damage has been done to the ox and it is likely that it will die, even from falling into a pit of less than ten tefachim.Answer: Though the blow may cause the ox’s death, but since the ground causes the blow and the ground does not belong to the person who dug the pit, he is exempt from paying damages; the fear which leads to a declaration of the ox as tereifah, though, still remains. The scholars then asked: If we can estimate the depth of a pit which could kill as being less than ten tefachim, why is a death sentence on a person carried out by throwing him from a height of two stories, which is much more than ten tefachim? Answer: The one sentenced to death is thrown to his death from a high place to ensure that he dies immediately; if he is thrown from a height of only ten tefachim he might die slowly, after great suffering. The scholars continued to ask: If there is the possibility of a blow and damage from a pit of less than ten tefachim deep, why did the early sages require a roof railing only if the roof was more than ten tefachim from the ground? Answer: Since a house of less than ten tefachim is not considered a house, one is not required to make a railing for the roof, though one who falls from it could die. The scholars went on to ask: Then a roof which is exactly ten tefachim above the ground should not require a railing, for the space of the house, floor to ceiling, is less than ten tefachim and the building is not considered a house. Answer: Though the roof is only ten tefachim from the ground, the space of the house is also ten tefachim. For example, they may have dug into the ground to increase the space within the house. The scholars then asked: Then there is no need for the roof to be ten tefachim above the ground; it is enough for the space in the house to be ten tefachim for the building to be considered a house, and then a roof less than ten tefachim above the ground should be required to have a railing, for a fall could kill. Answer: These are very good questions on the approach of Rav Nachman, so we must say that Rav Nachman declared the ox who fell into a channel of only sixty centimeters tereifah because in fact he fell ten tefachim (a meter). How? The channel was six tefachim deep and the space between the ox’s belly and the ground was another four tefachim, for a total of ten tefachim. The scholars asked: If the ox’s space is considered in the estimation of the damage, anyone who digs a pit of six tefachim into which an ox falls and is killed must pay the owner the value of the ox. Why did the early sages rule that the pit had to be ten tefachim? Answer: The early sages ruled the ten tefachim when the ox fell from a prone position, where the space between his belly and the ground did not come into play.
The scholars also asked about the opinion which states that one who digs a pit pays damages because of the damaging air of the pit and not because of the impact on the ground. Why is there a whole discussion about whether he is required to pay damages if vessels fell into the pit and broke? The damaging air does not harm the inanimate vessels, after all. Answer: The damaging air of the pit harms new vessels, causing them to crack, but old vessels are not harmed.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Kama 50b-54a)