Timeliness is next to G-dliness

Among the many precept listed in Acharey Mos-Kedoshim  is the injunction to pay people on time.
19:13 לֹא־תַֽעֲשֹׁ֥ק אֶת־רֵֽעֲךָ֖ וְלֹ֣א תִגְזֹ֑ל לֹֽא־תָלִ֞ין 
פְּעֻלַּ֥ת שָׂכִ֛יר אִתְּךָ֖ עַד־בֹּֽקֶר:
You shall not oppress your fellow. You shall not rob. The hired worker's wage shall not remain with you overnight until morning

In fact, the juxtaposition in the same verse indicates some aspect of oppression and robbery in delaying payment. If you think about it, that makes sense because a delay in payment may prevent your worker from paying for what he needs or incurring extra charges for delaying his own payment because he doesn't have the money. To give an example from modern times, if you are late in paying your credit card bill, your monthly mortgage, or even your utility bill, you usually get a significant fee added on to the bill. So there is a big cost to the person whose wages are delayed.

There can be another cost, as well. Many years ago, I taught a summer course at a particular school that was notorious for paying people late. It wasn't even honest about it. The people in the office claimed they didn't get my paperwork or that they was some delay in processing. When they finally did pay me, they set it up as a lump sum rather than wages, which meant that more taxes were taken out. That's the way it is for bonuses. However,  the pay was not a bonus and should have gone in as wages. When I complained about that, they said, I can get the excess tax back when I file my income taxes. Right, but that would be half a year later, so by delaying my pay, they not only deprived me of the use of my own earnings for weeks until it came but deprived me of getting the full sum coming to me because of the way it was set up. If I were really living paycheck to paycheck, that kind of thing could have made the difference between covering my bills and falling short, so it should not be taken lightly.

Mindful of the injunction to pay people on time, I always had the right amount of cash ready for babysitters and didn't make them wait for me to have a chance to get to the bank or the like. I also paid people I hired for work for my magazine promptly even when I was still waiting on payment for ads months after publication. While we sometimes take it for granted that it is the norm of doing business to try to delay payment as much as possible, we should remember that we are not just doing business as usual. As the Hebrew National commercials used to say: We answer to a higher Authority.

This idea is closely related to what the Abarbanel says in his commentary on Parshas Behar, the Abarbanel brings out an important point about the price set on a field sold. The price should be higher if there are more years until the yovel than if there are fewer years, for the purchaser is really paying according to the the field's yield. That the text says "velo tonoo ish es amitho"[one should not oppress his fellow], the Abarbanel says is a warning to the wealthy buyer who holds the advantage over the poor seller who is forced by circumstances into a situation of having no recourse other than selling his estate. Given the seller's desperation, the buyer could take advantage in naming his own price. So the Torah warns him to not to do the hona'a . The buyer is not supposed to make a killing at the expense of the desperate seller, but to fear G-d, the One who holds the ultimate power over the heights of wealth or depths of poverty. "mashpil af meromem umekimi meafar dal" And he says, "I am the Hashem, your G-d; all is within my hands like the clay in hands of the craftsman."
The Abarbanel adds the following: "It appears to me that lo tonoo is not a mitzvah but a hoda'a [notification or warning] " not to fall into hona'a [oppression] in the situation where the price depends on the number of yields until the yovel.

The Abarbanel's point is that even though one can claim that capitalism gives him the right to get the best price he can, and that to take advantage of another's circumstances to achieve that end is quite correct, The Torah view is different. And there is a warning for these cases when one can claim to be acting within his legal rights -- after all price is determined by what the market will bear and if someone needs to sell immediately, he'll just have to accept what I offer him -- but knows that there is an element of unfairness here -- that the prices should be a straight calculation of yield. True, you could get away with a lower price and pat yourself on the back for getting a bargain, but that is not what real fear of G-d is about. G-d does not want you to show you're the bigger macher, but to deal in business with fairness and even compassion. 

  See http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/05/torah-true-market-value.html


Related post: http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2016/05/going-in-ways-of-law.html

http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2016/05/kedoshim-for-individual-and-nation.html

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