What Bava Kamma Can Teach Us About Taking Responsibility for Our Health

I recently started learning Bava Kamma, the first masechta of Nezikin, which deals extensively with damages and our responsibility to prevent what belongs to us from harming others. One of the concepts we encounter is the distinction between a tam and a muad. With certain types of damage caused by an animal, the owner initially pays only half the damages. After the animal establishes a pattern, it can become a muad, and the owner can become responsible for full damages.

But when it comes to a person, the Mishnah teaches something very different: “Adam muad l’olam”: a person is always considered forewarned. A human being doesn’t need three incidents before responsibility begins.

Of course, Bava Kamma is discussing the halachos of damages and financial liability. I’m not suggesting that we simply transfer those laws to health and fitness. But I do think there is a powerful lesson here. An animal does not think and reason the way a human being does. Its owner therefore has a responsibility to guard it. But HaShem created us with the ability to think, reason, plan and understand consequences. We have a guf and a neshama, and we have the ability to look beyond what feels good right now and ask: Where are my actions leading me?

Bava Kamma teaches us to think about how our actions can affect other people. Maybe we should also stop and think about how our actions affect ourselves. We understand that we shouldn't leave a dangerous hole where somebody could fall into it. We understand that we have to protect others from something in our possession that could cause damage. But what about the body HaShem entrusted to us? What food are we putting into it? How much are we eating? Are we getting enough sleep? Are we exercising and maintaining our strength? How much time are we spending on our devices?

This isn't about perfection, and it isn't about feeling guilty every time we eat something unhealthy, miss a workout or stay up too late. It's about responsibility. And that's the part of adam muad l'olam that particularly resonates with me. Sometimes we wait for a warning like the doctor tells us our numbers are going in the wrong direction, we get winded climbing stairs, our back starts hurting, or we notice we don't have the strength and energy we once had. Only then do we decide it's time to make a change.

But why wait? We don't need three warnings. A thinking person can understand that the body needs movement, nutritious food, adequate sleep and proper care. Hashem gave us an extraordinary body, and taking care of it gives us the strength and energy to accomplish everything else we're here to do.

So my bracha to everyone, and to myself, as I continue learning Bava Kamma is that we internalize one of its great themes: Our actions have consequences, and human beings have responsibility. That certainly applies to how our actions affect others. But perhaps it can also inspire us to think more carefully about how our actions affect ourselves.

Adam muad l'olam. We have the ability to think ahead. Let's use it.