Week 2 Talmud - Treatment of Laborers

(14) You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. (15) You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is needy and urgently depends on it; else a cry to יהוה will be issued against you and you will incur guilt.

The Gemara challenges: With regard to one who withholds the wages of a hired laborer, it is explicitly written: “You shall not oppress a hired laborer who is poor and destitute” (Deuteronomy 24:14). There is no need to derive this prohibition from the verse concerning robbery. The Gemara answers: It is written so that withholding the wages of a hired laborer always involves violating two prohibitions.

The baraita continues. From here the Sages stated: Anyone who withholds the wages of a hired laborer violates these five negative prohibitions and one positive mitzva. He violates the prohibition of: “Do not oppress your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:13), and the prohibition of: “Do not steal” (Leviticus 19:13), and the prohibition of: “You should not oppress a hired laborer who is poor” (Deuteronomy 24:14), and the prohibition of delaying payment of wages (Leviticus 19:13), and he has not fulfilled the positive mitzva of: “On the same day you shall give him his wages” (Deuteronomy 24:15), and he has violated the prohibition of: “The sun shall not set upon him” (Deuteronomy 24:15).

The Gemara asks: And with regard to the first tanna, who does not address this verse of: “For he is poor,” what does he do with it? The Gemara answers: That verse is necessary to give precedence to a poor person over a wealthy person if the employer does not have enough money to pay all his workers. And how does Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, derive that halakha? In his opinion that halakha is derived from: “You shall not oppress a hired laborer who is poor and needy” (Deuteronomy 24:14).

The Gemara answers that Rava said: This verse is required for its unique halakhot, as it is taught in a baraita that the phrase “when you come [tavo]” is interpreted as follows: Coming [bia] is stated here, and coming is also stated there: “In the same day you shall give him his wages, and the sun shall not go down [tavo] upon it” (Deuteronomy 24:15). Just as there, in Deuteronomy, chapter 24, the verse is speaking of a laborer, so too here, in Deuteronomy, chapter 23, the verse is speaking of a laborer, despite the fact that this detail is not stated explicitly in the verse.

The baraita continues. From here the Sages stated: Anyone who withholds the wages of a hired laborer violates these five negative prohibitions and one positive mitzva. He violates the prohibition of: “Do not oppress your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:13), and the prohibition of: “Do not steal” (Leviticus 19:13), and the prohibition of: “You should not oppress a hired laborer who is poor” (Deuteronomy 24:14), and the prohibition of delaying payment of wages (Leviticus 19:13), and he has not fulfilled the positive mitzva of: “On the same day you shall give him his wages” (Deuteronomy 24:15), and he has violated the prohibition of: “The sun shall not set upon him” (Deuteronomy 24:15).

MISHNA: Whether referring to a person’s wages that he receives or the renting of an animal or the renting of utensils, are all subject to the prohibition of: “On the same day you shall give him his wages” (Deuteronomy 24:15), and are subject to the prohibition of: “The wages of a hired laborer shall not remain with you all night until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13). When does he transgress these prohibitions? He transgresses them when the one owed the money claimed the payment from him. If he did not claim his payment from him the other does not transgress the prohibitions. If the one who owes the money transferred his payment by leaving instructions with a storekeeper or with a money changer to pay him, he does not transgress the prohibitions.

When any party borrows [an animal] from another and it dies or is injured, its owner not being with it, restitution must be made.

And furthermore, even the second part of Rav Hamnuna’s ruling, that the exemption applies only when the owner was working for the borrower from the time of the borrowing of the animal until the time of the mishap, can be refuted, as it is taught in a baraita: From the implication of that which is stated: “If its owner is with him, he does not pay” (Exodus 22:14), do I not already know what is stated in the next verse, that “if its owner is not with him, he shall pay” (Exodus 22:13)? Rather, what is the meaning when the verse states: “Its owner is not with him”? It serves to tell you: If he was with him, i.e., working for him, at the time of borrowing, he does not need to be with him at the time when the animal is injured or dies for the exemption from liability to apply; but if he was with him at the time when the animal is injured or dies, he does need to have been with him at the time of borrowing for the exemption from liability to apply.

MISHNA: In the case of one who borrowed a cow and borrowed the services of its owner with it, or he borrowed a cow and hired its owner with it, or he borrowed the services of the owner or hired him and afterward borrowed the cow; in all such cases, if the cow died, the borrower is exempt from liability. Although a borrower is generally liable to pay if a cow he borrowed dies, here he is exempt, as it is stated: “If its owner is with him, he does not pay” (Exodus 22:14).

When a person borrows utensils, an animal or other movable property from a colleague, and it is lost or stolen, or even if it is destroyed by factors beyond his control - e.g., an animal is injured, taken captive or dies - the borrower is required to make restitution for the entire worth of the article, as stated in Exodus 22:13: "If a person borrows an animal from a colleague and it will become injured or die, and the owner is not with him, he must make financial restitution."
When does the above apply? When the loss due to factors beyond his control does not take place while the borrower is working with the animal. If, however, a person borrows a colleague's animal to plow, and it dies while plowing, the borrower is not liable. If, however, the animal dies before he plowed with it or after he plowed with it, or he rode upon it or threshed with it and the animal died while he was threshing or riding, the borrower is liable to make financial restitution. Similar laws apply in all analogous situations.
Similarly, if a person borrows an animal to travel to a particular place and the animal dies under him on that journey, he borrows a bucket to fill water with it and it falls apart in the cistern while he is filling it, he borrows a hatchet to split wood and it breaks because of the chopping while he is splitting the wood, he is not liable. Similar laws apply in all analogous situations. The rationale is that he borrowed the article solely to perform this task, and he did not deviate from his original request.

But if one first borrowed the cow and only afterward borrowed the services of the owner or hired him, and the cow died, he is liable to pay the owner for the cow. This is the halakha even if the owner was working for the borrower at the time, as it is stated: “If its owner is not with him, he shall pay” (Exodus 22:13).

GEMARA: From the fact that the latter clause teaches: And afterward borrowed the cow, it may be inferred that when the first clause teaches: Borrowed its owner with it, the intention is: Literally with it, i.e., at the same moment. The Gemara asks: Can you find such a case where the owner obligates himself to serve the borrower literally with it? Given that one borrows the cow through pulling the cow and contracts the services of the owner through their verbal agreement, it emerges that if they agree to both matters at the same time, one borrows the services of the owner before he borrows the cow, which is the case mentioned in the latter clause of the mishna. What, then, is the case mentioned in the first clause?