The Weekly Daf #21 Bava Metzia 9-15 Week of 20-26 Tamuz 5754/1-7 July 1994 By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions ========================================================================= This issue is dedicated in the memory of Simja de Ades ========================================================================= Finders Keepers -- But Who? The Rules: 1. If someone is hired for a specific job, anything he finds during the period of his employment belongs to him. If he is hired, however, to work in general for the day whatever he finds belongs to his employer. 2. Whatever a Jewish servant finds belongs to him. The Problem: A servant is required to do all general work for his master. Why then is he entitled to keep what he finds? The Resolutions: According to Rabbi Yochanan: Rule Two applies to a highly skilled servant, such as a jewelry craftsman, whose labor is generally of more value to his master than that of a lost object he will pick up. It is therefore the implicit will of the master that he be relieved of any resposibility to serve him in any way other than practicing his craft. The servant may therefore retain the unusually valuable object he finds and compensate his master for the time lost. According to The Sage Rava: Rule Two applies only to a situation in which the servant is able to pick up the lost object without losing any time at the expense of his master. According to Rabbi Popa: Rule Two applies to every situation except one in which the worker has been specifically hired to find lost objects for his employer; i.e., the river has overflowed leaving enough fish on the shore to make it worthwhile hiring someone to gather them. Bava Metzia 12b ========================================================================= When Labor Becomes Bondage A day laborer may quit his job even in the middle of the day (unless such a work stoppage causes actual damage to his employer due to his indispensability in that particular situation) without suffering any loss in the wages due him for the hours in which he worked. This freedom to quit is based on the Divine warning that "the Children of Israel are My servants" and not the servants of servants. To compel a worker to continue working against his will is tantamount to bondage. This aversion to bondage also finds expression in the law (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 373:3) prohibiting a Jew to enter into an agreement to work for someone for more than three years, because at that point he changes his status from employee to something approaching bondage. Bava Metzia 10a ========================================================================= Ohr Somayach Institutions is proud to present a new service: Sho'el U'meshiv (Question & Answer) Learning Gemara with no-one nearby to whom you can ask your "kashas"? Join our "virtual Beis Medrash" and R. Efraim Yawitz will try to find you an answer or clarification in the classic Meforshim or from contemporary Talmidei-Chachamim. Questions or comments on Gemara, Rishonim, or Acharonim on any level welcome. (If you can send your questions in Hebrew, we can answer them in Hebrew!) Sample: Question: When the Gemara in Yevamos 20b discusses the din of the co-wife of an almanah who had yibbum from the kohen-gadol, does this mean to imply that the almanah herself is certainly permitted to marry? Answer: The Maharsha and Rashash deal with this issue, the Maharsha making your exact diyyuk. The Rashash finds this difficult, however... To submit a question, address it to: newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il to insure proper handling, set the subject to "SHOEL:" Previous questions and answers are archived EXCLUSIVELY on the Jerusalem 1 Gopher. ========================================================================= Dedication opportunities are available for The Weekly Daf Please contact us for details. ========================================================================= Jewish L EEEEEEEE Prepared by Ohr Somayach Institutions J L E 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 J L Exchange Jerusalem 91180, Israel J J L E Tel: 02-810315 Fax: 02-812890 JJJJ Learning EEEEEEEE Internet: newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il ========================================================================= (C) 1994 Ohr Somayach Institutions - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission.