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, such as if they were hired to irrigate a field and it rained or in the unusual event where the river feeding the irrigation dried up. In such situations, as well as in all employment matters, many factors must be taken into account when considering an employee’s wages.
Factoring Travel Time?
The sugya, infra (Bava Metzia 83b), explains that time spent traveling from home is reckoned as part of one’s work and must be remunerated by the employer. According to Rabbi Chaim Falaji’s grandfather, 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.
Rabbi Chazan needed to clarify this issue while ruling in a case of a shochet suing a community. The community had hired the individual, a shochet from another region, for a monthly wage. On arriving, he demanded that his month’s pay be reckoned from the day of his departure, whereas his employers insisted on paying him from the day of his arrival. Rabbi Chazan defended him, citing the sugya in Bava Metzia 83b that employers must pay workers for their time spent coming to their jobs even if, as the case turned out, the journey took a few weeks.
A Father’s Stipulation
Some years ago a Jew in the Diaspora left a will that caused a halachic dilemma concerning a valuable library. The individual bequeathed his enormous library to his son – however, with one caveat: that the son settle in Eretz Yisrael within two years of the father’s demise. Otherwise, the library would be divided among all his other heirs.
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 in Torah education. After finalizing all his outstanding business and personal affairs in Chutz la’Aretz, though he had not yet secured a position, he nevertheless visited Eretz Yisrael in search of a fitting home for his family. Unfortunately, thereafter, in the midst of the hectic preparations to move there, the son fell ill and died suddenly. The next day a job offer arrived from inside Eretz Yisrael.
After mourning, the question arose about the library’s fate. As the son had not in actuality settled in Eretz Yisrael, should it be divided among the relatives in Eretz Yisrael or, as all necessary preparations for settling in Eretz Yisrael were made, should the entire library be given only to the son’s children who are his heirs? Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 6:42 – Kuntres Orchos HaMishpatim, chapter 8) ruled that it must be given only to the son’s heirs.
Rabbi Waldenberg based his ruling on the aforesaid decision of the Chikrei Lev – that time spent going to work is part of the job and must be remunerated by one’s employer. Hence, preparation for an activity is regarded as part of that activity and the son’s visit to Eretz Yisrael to find a suitable home was the starting point of settling there, fulfilling the condition of his father’s will.
