Judging how you wish to be judged: Ki Tetze to Rosh Hashana
Parshas Kit Tetze is chock full of mitzvos. Among those is bal talin, the prohibition to delay paying worker, which is the other side of the coin of the mitzvah to pay day workers at the end of the workday sunset Devarim 24:15):
בְּיוֹמוֹ֩ תִתֵּ֨ן שְׂכָר֜וֹ וְלֹֽא־תָב֧וֹא עָלָ֣יו הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ כִּ֤י עָנִי֙ ה֔וּא
The worker depends on his daily wages for his daily expenses, so delaying payment is causing him real harm.
This definitely applies today when many people live paycheck to paycheck, and delays of payment can cause them to fall into debt as they have to borrow or advance credit to pay bills due now while waiting for their money to come through. Even if you know the person won't suffer immediate harm, delaying payment would still be a violation of Torah law (not a smart business practice to maximize your own cash flow). This is not an obscure chumra for which one gets extra credit. It is the actual letter of the law.
This is the necessary background for a famous account in the Gemara of the extent to which one has to go to be dan lekaf zchus - judging someone else favorably by giving them the benefit of the doubt,
Shabbos 127b
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: הַדָּן חֲבֵירוֹ לְכַף זְכוּת — דָּנִין אוֹתוֹ לִזְכוּת. וּמַעֲשֶׂה בְּאָדָם אֶחָד שֶׁיָּרַד מִגָּלִיל הָעֶלְיוֹן וְנִשְׂכַּר אֵצֶל בַּעַל הַבַּיִת אֶחָד בַּדָּרוֹם שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים. עֶרֶב יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים אָמַר לוֹ: תֵּן לִי שְׂכָרִי, וְאֵלֵךְ וְאָזוּן אֶת אִשְׁתִּי וּבָנַי. אָמַר לוֹ: אֵין לִי מָעוֹת. אָמַר לוֹ: תֵּן לִי פֵּירוֹת. אָמַר לוֹ: אֵין לִי. תֵּן לִי קַרְקַע — אִין לִי. תֵּן לִי בְּהֵמָה — אֵין לִי. תֵּן לִי כָּרִים וּכְסָתוֹת — אֵין לִי. הִפְשִׁיל כֵּלָיו לַאֲחוֹרָיו, וְהָלַךְ לְבֵיתוֹ בְּפַחֵי נֶפֶשׁ.
לְאַחַר הָרֶגֶל נָטַל בַּעַל הַבַּיִת שְׂכָרוֹ בְּיָדוֹ, וְעִמּוֹ מַשּׂוֹי שְׁלֹשָׁה חֲמוֹרִים, אֶחָד שֶׁל מַאֲכָל, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל מִשְׁתֶּה, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל מִינֵי מְגָדִים, וְהָלַךְ לוֹ לְבֵיתוֹ. אַחַר שֶׁאָכְלוּ וְשָׁתוּ נָתַן לוֹ שְׂכָרוֹ.
אָמַר לוֹ: בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַרְתָּ לִי ״תֵּן לִי שְׂכָרִי״ וְאָמַרְתִּי ״אֵין לִי מָעוֹת״, בַּמֶּה חֲשַׁדְתַּנִי? אָמַרְתִּי: שֶׁמָּא פְּרַקְמַטְיָא בְּזוֹל נִזְדַּמְּנָה לְךָ, וְלָקַחְתָּ בָּהֶן. וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַרְתָּ לִי ״תֵּן לִי בְּהֵמָה״, וְאָמַרְתִּי ״אֵין לִי בְּהֵמָה״, בַּמֶּה חֲשַׁדְתַּנִי? אָמַרְתִּי: שֶׁמָּא מוּשְׂכֶּרֶת בְּיַד אֲחֵרִים. בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַרְתָּ לִי ״תֵּן לִי קַרְקַע״, וְאָמַרְתִּי לְךָ ״אֵין לִי קַרְקַע״, בַּמֶּה חֲשַׁדְתַּנִי? אָמַרְתִּי: שֶׁמָּא מוּחְכֶּרֶת בְּיַד אֲחֵרִים הִיא. וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי לְךָ ״אֵין לִי פֵּירוֹת״ בַּמֶּה חֲשַׁדְתַּנִי? אָמַרְתִּי: שֶׁמָּא אֵינָן מְעוּשָּׂרוֹת. וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי לְךָ ״אֵין לִי כָּרִים וּכְסָתוֹת״ בַּמֶּה חֲשַׁדְתַּנִי? אָמַרְתִּי: שֶׁמָּא הִקְדִּישׁ כָּל נְכָסָיו לַשָּׁמַיִם.
אָמַר לוֹ: הָעֲבוֹדָה! כָּךְ הָיָה. הִדַּרְתִּי כׇּל נְכָסַי בִּשְׁבִיל הוּרְקָנוֹס בְּנִי שֶׁלֹּא עָסַק בַּתּוֹרָה. וּכְשֶׁבָּאתִי אֵצֶל חֲבֵירַי בַּדָּרוֹם הִתִּירוּ לִי כָּל נְדָרַי. וְאַתָּה, כְּשֵׁם שֶׁדַּנְתַּנִי לִזְכוּת, הַמָּקוֹם יָדִין אוֹתְךָ לִזְכוּת.
The Sages taught in a baraita: One who judges another favorably is himself judged favorably. And there was an incident involving a certain person who descended from the Upper Galilee and was hired to work for a certain homeowner in the South for three years. On the eve of Yom Kippur, he said to the homeowner: "Give me my wages, and I will go and feed my wife and children."
The owner replied: "I have no money." The worker then suggested that his wages be paid in produce, and the owner said he had none. The worker then suggested being paid in land, and the owner said he had none. The worker then suggested being paid in animals, and the owner said he had none. The worker suggested cushions and blankets serve as payment. The owner said he had none. The worker then gave up, slung his tools on his shoulder and returned to him own home in anguish.
After the festival of Sukkot, owner took the worker’s wages in his hand, along with a burden that required three donkeys, one laden with food, one laden with drink, and one laden with types of sweets, and went to the worker’s home. After they ate and drank, the homeowner gave him his wages.
The owner asked: "When you said to me: Give me my wages, and I said: I have no money, of what did you suspect me? Why did you not suspect me of trying to avoid paying you? "
The worker answered, "I said: Perhaps the opportunity to purchase merchandise [perakmatya] inexpensively presented itself, and you purchased it with the money that you owed me, and therefore you had no money available."
The owner asked: "And when you said to me: Give me animals, and I said: I have no animals, of what did you suspect me?"
The worker answered: "I said: Perhaps the animals are hired to others."
The owner asked: "When you said to me: Give me land, and I said: I have no land, of what did you suspect me?"
The worker answered: "I said: Perhaps the land is leased to others, and you cannot take the land from the lessees."
The owner asked: "And when you said to me: Give me produce, and I said: I have no produce, of what did you suspect me?
The worker answered:" I said: Perhaps they are not tithed, and that was why you could not give them to me.
The owner asked: "And when I said: I have no cushions or blankets, of what did you suspect me?"
The worker answered: "I said: Perhaps he consecrated all his property to Heaven and therefore has nothing available at present."
The owner then declared: "I swear by the Temple service that it was so. I had no money available at the time because I vowed and consecrated all my property on account of Hurkanus my son who did not engage in Torah study. And when I came to my colleagues in the South, the Sages dissolved all my vows." [That enabled him to discharge the overdue debt to the worker] "nd you, just as you judged favorably, so may G-d judge you favorably."
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Think of the powerful bracha in that conclusion. In this case where a person showed a tremendous capacity to judge someone else favorably despite all appearances, being held to the same standard by Gd would be a huge benefit. But what of the flip side? What would it mean to you if someone were to tell you, "May you be judged by G-d the way you judged me!"
I was really tempted to tell someone that this week. Someone was very nasty to me recently. She did the opposite of what we call being dan lekaf zchus, assuming I had received something she sent when I had not and had been flouting what she said. She didn't bother to reach out to me to get clarification but just acted on her own instinct, which itself was based on an irrational misunderstanding of something.
When this happens, I think, "If Hashem judges you the way you judged me, you'd be doomed."
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Another observation that I'd like to make on this episode is that the commentators identify the worker as R' Akiva. This happened before he married Rachel who encouraged him to learn. (R' Akiva had three wives in all, the unnamed one here, Rachel, and the wife of Turnus Rufus.) Some make the point that even in his state of ignorance of Torah learning, he still exhibited excellent middos.
However, I see a different form of potential here that we also see in other stories with R' Akiva -- that of imaginative vision. He was able to look beyond the obvious to imagine possible positive twists on things. There's another story about R' Akiva that is all about that -- his application of the teaching that all that happens is for the good, which he learned from his teacher, Nachum Ish Gamzu, as recounted in Berachos 60b:
When Rabbi Akiva was walking along the road and came to a certain city, he inquired about lodging. the people refused him. He said, "Everything the Merciful One does is for the good. " He set out to sleep in a field along with a rooster, a donkey and a candle. A gust of wind came and extinguished the candle. Then a cat came and ate the rooster. Then and a lion came and ate the donkey. For each loss, he declared, "Everything the Merciful One does is for the good."
That night, an army came and took the city into captivity. Rabbi Akiva alone, who was not in the city and had no lit candle or noisy animals to give away his location, was saved. He said to the people, "Didn’t I tell you? Everything the Merciful One does is for the good."
This same kind of vision that asserts confidence in positive outcomes is also behind his ability to laugh even when the rabbis around him cried at the sight of a fox on the site of Bais Hamikdash.
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