Yitzchak sold lotto tickets for a living – but he did not own the booth where he worked.
“Good morning, Yitzchak!” the regulars would call out, buying tickets and handing him their money.
By the end of the day, his pouch would be filled with a jumble of bills – singles, fives, tens, twenties, and an occasional fifty. Company policy was simple: Each cashier turned in the fares he collected at the end of the day or, if not practical, by the end of the week.
One afternoon, Yitzchak stopped on his way home at a convenience store to buy coffee. He opened his wallet, but found he had only large bills. He had no time to wait for change.
He glanced at the money he had collected from customers. Would it be okay to exchange my bills with some of these? he wondered. The company simply expects the total amount, in whatever denominations. Does it matter which bills I hand in? Ultimately, he decided to forgo the coffee.
A more complex situation came up a week later. Yitzchak needed a substantial amount of cash for a personal expense but couldn’t get to the bank until the next day.
Could I use part of the cash I’ve collected now and replace the money tomorrow? he asked himself. After all, I’ll be turning everything in at the end of the week anyway.
He assumed it probably wasn’t a problem, but his uncertainty held him back. Was exchanging bills considered using company money? Was borrowing temporarily any different?
One evening, after finishing for the day, Yitzchak called Rabbi Dayan. “Sometimes I just need to swap bills,” he explained. “Other times I might need to use some of the cash for a day, and then replace it.”
“Can I exchange the bills from customers for other denominations? And can I use some of the money temporarily?”
“The Mishna (B.M. 43a) addresses the case of one who was entrusted with money,” replied Rabbi Dayan.
“A money changer, although he has constant use for cash, is not allowed to use the money if it was tied unusually, since this indicates that the owner is particular about it. However, if the money was entrusted loose, he may use it in the meantime, since presumably the owner is not particular about his temporary use (C.M. 292:7; Sma 292:15).
A regular person, though, is not allowed to use even loose money, since the owner has no expectation that the person would need it, and a guardian is not allowed to use an entrusted item or money for his own purposes (C.M. 292:1,7).
Nonetheless, some authorities write that, nowadays, money is continuously needed by everybody, so that all have the rule of a money changer (Sma 292:18; see, however, Pischei Choshen, Pikadon 5:53).
Nesivos (121:10), however, cites from Beis Yosef (Y.D. 168-69) that when a lender sends money to a borrower, or vice versa, even if the agent is a money changer and the money was loose, he may not utilize it, since the money was not meant to be in his hands for any duration, just to hand over immediately to the other party. This is in apparent contradiction to the Shach (121:35), who also allows such an agent to use the money temporarily. Nonetheless, where the agent was appointed by the lender to accept the money and bring it to him, Nesivos also allows him to use it in the meantime, as with other money that was entrusted (Pischei Teshuva 292:2).
Even when the guardian may not use the money, many authorities permit mixing it with his own bills in his wallet, or setting aside alternate money in its stead. Furthermore, Shach (292:8) writes that a guardian does not have to return the exact bills he received, even if they are intact. However, other Acharonim disagree with Shach’s holding, especially if the owner is particular about his specific form of payment (Pischei Teshuva 292:3; Aruch Hashulchan E.H. 35:30; Pischei Choshen, Pikadon, 5:20-21).
“In your case,” concluded Rabbi Dayan, “since the company has no interest in the particular bills you collected, you certainly can exchange them. Moreover, since it entrusted you to collect the money and bring it in, even Nesivos concurs that you can use the money in the meantime, provided that you have alternate funds from which you can pay the company promptly.”
(See Shliach L’holachas Ma’os, Rabbi Benzion Nesher, Kevodah shel Torah, vol. I, pp. 63-71)
Verdict: A person who has regular need for money can temporarily use money that was entrusted with him in loose form. Some do not allow this if the money was explicitly given to him to deliver directly to a third party; even so, many allow exchanging those bills with his own.