WEEKLY DAFootnotes #42
Bava Batra 51-57; Issue #42
29 Iyar - 6 Sivan 5762 / May 11-17, 2002
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THE PRICE OF BORROWING
The relationship of borrower to lender has both legal and psychological implications. The wisest of men, King Solomon, defined it in terms of "the borrower is subservient to the lender." (Mishlei 22:7)
One practical application of this principle is found in Mesechta Sanhedrin (31b). If there is litigation between a borrower and a lender and the former insists on brining the case before the Beit Din Hagadol (The High Court Sanhedrin) in Jerusalem rather than before the local court, the lender can insist on the local one. Should such a demand come from the lender, however, the borrower must concede because "the borrower is subservient to the lender".
In our own gemara the psychological dimension plays a role in determining the law. One who borrows money from his slave and subsequently liberates him is free from any claim by his former slave even if he has a document as evidence of the loan. The reason for this is that the master can claim that the money he "borrowed" was really his own and that he only used that stratagem of a loan as a way of inducing the slave to produce the money he had illegally put away. But what causes us to assume that this was not money which the slave had gained legally through receiving a gift presented to him on the express condition that it would not automatically be owned by his master in the manner of every other possession acquired by a slave? The answer is that we must assume that the master will do anything to avoid being subservient to his slave and therefore must assume that his borrowing was merely a ploy to extract his money from the slave.
While these gemaras focus on the legal implications of a literal lender and borrower, another approach is presented by Metsudot in his commentary on Mishlei. The subservient relationship of borrower to lender, he writes, is Solomon's parable for the relationship of the one who lacks wisdom to the wise man. Just as the literal borrower is subservient to the literal lender because of the assistance he provided him, so too is the person who is dependent on the wise man to provide him with guidance naturally subservient to him.
Bava Batra 51a
GUARDING THE EYES
In his listing of the virtues of the righteous Jew, the Prophet Yeshayahu includes a tribute to the man "who shuts his eyes from seeing evil." (Yeshayahu 33:15)
What evil is he trying to shun from his sight?
Rabbi Chiya bar Abba explains that this refers to one who does not look upon the women who are washing clothes by the riverside because they are not dressed in complete modesty. Because of this need to stand barefoot and partially exposed when standing in the river, partners in a courtyard must allow neighbors to wash clothes in their courtyard area, which is not at the river, to avoid the indignity of exposure of riverside laundering.
The prophet's praise of the righteousness of the man walking along a riverside where laundering is taking place is challenged by the gemara by posing some analytic questions regarding the situation. If this person has an alternative route and insists on passing through an area where he is likely to look upon the exposed women is he not a sinner for entering such an area and relying on his ability to shut his eyes? If he has no alternative how can the prophet suggest that he is sinful for what he sees against his will while taking the only route available to him?
The resolution of this problem is that the prophet is referring to a situation in which there is no alternative route. The righteous man, however, will exercise the utmost self-discipline in averting his eyes from looking upon the exposed women.
In our own times, when immodesty in dress is considered "fashionable", the observant Jew finds himself facing the challenge of finding alternative routes which will reduce the risk of his seeing what should be avoided. The righteous Jew faces the even greater challenge of how to avoid gazing upon immodesty when no alternative route exists.
Bava Batra 57b
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