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Why does stealing an ox incur a five-fold penalty while a sheep only four-fold? The shiur builds on Rabbi Meir's principle that the Torah (תורה) values work itself—not just its economic output—because meaningful work is essential to human fulfillment. Without avodas Hashem (ה׳) as the organizing principle, even productive work becomes etzev (painful toil), leaving people with accomplishment but not fulfillment.
Rabbi Zweig opens with the halacha (הלכה) that one who steals a sheep (seh) pays four times its value, while one who steals an ox (shor) pays five times. The Gemara (גמרא) offers two explanations: Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai attributes the difference to human dignity—the thief who carries a sheep on his shoulders suffers shame and therefore pays less—while Rabbi Meir explains that an ox is an animal of labor, and thus the thief deprives the owner of work itself, warranting a higher penalty. Rabbi Zweig poses a fundamental difficulty with Rabbi Meir's approach: if an ox is worth more precisely because it can work, that added value is already reflected in its price. Paying four times the value of an ox already compensates for the loss of work capacity. Why, then, does the Torah (תורה) require a fifth payment? The Chizkuni suggests the thief himself derived extra benefit from working the stolen ox, but this is not the Gemara's intent.
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Mishpatim (laws of theft and restitution)
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