Yes, that is jewish law. I follow Christian law which has many more civil rules concerning conduct toward your fellow man. I think a person also needs to remember the difficulty God/Jesus have/had in communicating with humans. A similar communication gap exists between a human and an ant. Try getting your point across to the next ant you see on the sidewalk to appreciate the issue.
Life was as cheap then as it is today, what with 40-50 million killed in utero for profit in the U.S. alone.