May 6, 2026 · 6:03
Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at [email protected] Rav Aryeh FinkelQuestion: Reuven owns a Roomba vacuum cleaner, which rolls by itself across the floor of his house. He brought it over to his neighbor’s house to demonstrate to them how it works. During his demonstration, it vacuumed up a child’s gold earring and they were unable to retrieve it. Is Reuven liable to pay for the lost earring?In a similar occurrence, a Roomba banged into a parakeet’s cage and injured the valuable bird. Is the owner of the vacuum culpable for the injuries to the parakeet? Answer: The Torah says that a person is liable for damages done by his animals. While the Mishnah in Bava Kama lists various categories of animals that one is chayav for, obviously, a Roomba vacuum cleaner is not one of them. The Rambam clearly rules that any liability of animal damages applies only to live creatures; therefore, they would not apply to the case in question. One could suggest that the owner of the vacuum could be liable as a derivative of aish. If one places any object in a place where it is likely that wind will move it and cause damage, he can be held liable as a form of aish. In this case, the individual left his vacuum running in a place where it is likely to vacuum up an earring, which would place it in the category of aish.However, the Gemara says that if someone puts his friend’s cow next to a third person’s fruit and, as a result of this, the cow eats the fruit, the one who put it ther