The Mitzvos Hiding in Plain Sight Pt 1

Some of the most consequential halachos in a Jew’s daily life are not necessarily the ones that feel dramatic.

While we tend to treat the mitzvos associated with Yomim Tovim — such as Lulav and Matzah — with extra care and precision, the more common, everyday mitzvos are no less obligatory. In a fascinating shiur at Kollel Yeshurun, Rav Avrohom Rudner highlighted a number of such mitzvos that truly deserve more attention.

The Babysitter Is Waiting to Be Paid

Rav Rudner began with a halacha that he feels does not receive nearly enough attention: tashlumei s’char sachir — paying someone who has performed work for you.

When a plumber, electrician, or other service provider does a job for you, you are obligated to pay promptly.

The Torah commands, “Beyomo sitein secharo” — on the same day that he has done the work for you, you shall pay him his wages.

Why such urgency?

The Torah itself explains: “Ki eilav hu nosei nafsho.” A worker is relying on his wages. Traditionally, that could quite literally mean the money with which he would purchase food for his family.

And although a particular worker today may be financially comfortable, the halacha remains.

When Exactly?

Broadly speaking, someone who completes work during the daytime is to be paid before sunset, while one who completes work at night is to be paid before sunrise.

There is a famous story told about one of the gedolim in Yerushalayim who arrived home one night and discovered that someone had done a job there during the nighttime hours. The gadol searched high and low throughout the night until he found the fellow’s apartment shortly before sunrise. When the worker emerged on his way to vasikin, he found the gadol waiting for him with the money, eager to pay him before sunrise.

Rav Rudner noted that what this gadol did would appear to have been a chumra.

Why?

Because the primary halacha of Beyomo sitein secharo applies when the worker has requested his wages. If the worker is mochel, or if there is an established understanding that payment will be made on 30-, 60- or 90-day terms, the immediate obligation does not apply in the same way. In the aforementioned case with gadol, as the worker had not requested to be paid, rushing to do so was probably a chumrah.

However, the Chofetz Chaim writes that when someone expects to be paid right away and is simply too shy or embarrassed to ask for his wages, one remains obligated in Beyomo sitein secharo and must pay within the applicable daytime or nighttime period.

And that brings us to the babysitter.

Imagine you return home late at night. The babysitter tells you how many hours she worked and what you owe her. You’re tired, the children are still awake, and you tell her you’ll get the money to her tomorrow.

That seemingly mundane interaction, Rav Rudner stressed, can involve a din d’Oraisa.

Yes, Even the Lollipop

Rav Rudner added that this obligation applies to children as well.

If someone tells a child, “Clean up the siddurim and I’ll give you a lollipop,” he has, in effect, hired a worker.

“If you don’t give the lollipop,” Rav Rudner said, “you’re a gazlan. And if you allow sunset or sunrise to pass, you’re transgressing a d’oraisah.”