Riddle of the Week (Mishpatim): If A Camel Stepped on Grapes . . .

This past week’s parsha, Mishpatim, deals mainly with a Jewish civil code. We find – inter alia - laws of slavery, assault, homicide, manslaughter, and a plethora of tort laws regarding liability for animals, fire and other hazards.

One of the tort laws specified in the parsha concerns an owner of an animal who negligently allows their animal to roam into a neighbor’s vineyard:

When a man lets his livestock loose to graze in another’s land, and so allows a field or a vineyard to be grazed bare, he must make restitution for the impairment of that field or vineyard. (Exodus, 22:4)

With this scenario in mind, here's our riddle of the week:

If it were a camel that stepped on those grapes, what two things would the grapes do?  

 Answer: 

First, they let out a little wine!  

But after the initial shock, they say a verse from Psalms in honor of the occasion:

"אָשִׁירָה לַה'  כִּי גָמַל עָלָי"

Explanation:  The verse from Psalm 13:6 is translated: 

"I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me" 

But the Hebrew words כִּי גָמַל עָלָי 

 can have two possible meanings:

1. For He has been good to me

2. Because a camel stepped on me :)