An Eye For An Eye
The Oral Torah usually supplies us with explanations of the Written Torah. However, sometimes the Oral Torah adds something that isn’t in the Written Torah at all, or seems to contradict it. This is the case when it comes to ‘an eye for an eye.’ If compensatory damages should be paid with money, why does the Written Torah use the phrase “an eye for an eye”? Join Rabbi Uri Cohen as he explores the contemporary commentaries addressing this issue.
Rabbi Uri Cohen has been teaching at Midreshet Moriah since 2005. He learned at Yeshivat Shaalvim and Yeshivat Hamivtar, and received Semikhah from RIETS (YU) and Yeshivat Hamivtar. He also holds Masters degrees in Medieval Jewish History and Jewish Education from Yeshiva University. For two years, he was an ATID Fellow. Through Torah MiTzion, he and his wife Dr. Yocheved Engelberg Cohen served as the first members of the Syracuse Kollel, and later as the first couple of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) at Princeton University. They now live in Ramat Beit Shemesh. His eclectic lecture topics have included Talmudic Misogyny in Context, Harry Potter and the Value of Fantasy, Contemporary Orthodox Responses to Homosexuality, and How Not to Do Outreach.