Someone embarrasses a colleague verbally, with words alone. What is the general legal outcome by Rambam?
Halachah 5 rules that verbal embarrassment of an ordinary person carries no financial penalty, though courts have discretion to impose restraints (gedar ha-davar).
Question 2
What is the fixed penalty for embarrassing a Torah scholar, even verbally?
Halachah 5 establishes the penalty as 35 gold dinarim — the weight of 9 sela'im minus a quarter. This is collected in all places, Israel and diaspora alike.
Question 3
A man slaps a colleague once with the back of his hand across the face. How much must he pay?
Halachah 9 specifies that a back-of-hand slap (setaro me-achorei yado) costs 100 sela'im — the highest fixed penalty for a single blow.
Question 4
A person embarrasses a sleeping colleague who then dies in his sleep, never having awakened. Can the court collect boshet from the embarrasser?
Halachah 3 rules that if the victim died in his sleep and never became aware of the embarrassment, boshet is not expropriated from the embarrasser. If heirs seized it, it is not taken from them.
Question 5
An ignoble person who openly demeans himself for entertainment is slapped across the face. How much boshet does he receive?
Halachah 11 explains that fixed amounts apply to a distinguished person; an ignoble person who does not care about shame receives only what the judges assess as fitting for him.