Indeed, He Honored His Father
‘They Were Hired To Irrigate, But The River Dried Up’
(Bava Metzia 76b-77a)
Our daf discusses circumstances where per diem workers need not be paid, e.g., if they were hired to irrigate a field and it rained or the river feeding the irrigation dried up.
Factoring Travel Time?
The Gemara (Bava Metzia 83b) explains that time spent traveling from home is reckoned as part of one’s work for which one must be paid. According to Rabbi Yosef Rafael Chazan (Responsa Chikrei Lev, Choshen Mishpat 2:72), the Gemara means that if an employer promises a certain amount of remuneration for a day’s work, the payment includes the time spent traveling from home to the workplace.
A shochet once sued a community based on this halacha. The shochet lived in a different region, and the community hired him to serve as its shochet. On arriving, he demanded that his month’s pay be reckoned from the day of his departure from his home city. His employers meanwhile insisted on paying him from the day of his arrival. Rabbi Chazan defended the shochet, citing Bava Metzia 83b that employers must pay workers for the time they spend coming to their jobs.
A Father’s Stipulation
Some years ago a Jew in the Diaspora left a will in which he bequeathed his enormous library to his son – with one caveat: that he settle in Eretz Yisrael within two years of the father’s demise. Otherwise, the will stated, the library should be divided among all the children.
A Sudden Death
The son, a talmid chacham, asked acquaintances in Eretz Yisrael to aid him in attaining a suitable position as a rabbi or teacher. After finalizing all his outstanding business and personal affairs in Chutz la’Aretz, he visited Eretz Yisrael – though he had not yet secured a position – to look for a fitting home for his family. Unfortunately, in the midst of the hectic preparations, he fell ill and died suddenly. The next day a job offer arrived from Eretz Yisrael.
To whom should the father’s library now go? The son never actuality settled in Eretz Yisrael, so seemingly it should it divided among his siblings. However, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 6:42 – Kuntres Orchos HaMishpatim, chapter 8) ruled it should go to the son’s children. Rabbi Waldenberg based his ruling on the decision of Rabbi Chazzan that time spent going to work is part of the job for which one must receive compensation. It’s true that the son never actually moved to Israel, but preparation for an activity is regarded as part of that activity and the son’s visit in Eretz Yisrael to find a suitable home should be regarded as the starting point of his settling there. Hence, the son, in essence, fulfilled the condition of his father’s will.