Chayei Sara 5779

…and Lavan ran toward the man 

Rashi: Why did he run, and for what did he run? Because [as the verse below states] “and it was when he saw the nose ring,” [Lavan] said “This man [Eliezer] is wealthy, and he set his eyes upon his money.”

(Bereishit 24:29)

Taxi Collector

Dani gave a sigh of relief, when the taxi he hailed pulled up in front of him. It was late at night, and it was just time to go home already. Dani opened the car door, and sank into the faux leather upholstery. After exchanging some pleasantries with the driver, Dani closed his eyes, and allowed himself to relax.

When the taxi was a few minutes from Dani’s house, he put his hand into his pocket, in order to find money, to pay the driver. To Dani’s chagrin, his wallet slipped from his hand, and fell onto the taxi floor. He bent down, and began to feel around for his wallet, but couldn’t manage to locate it in the dark. Soon, the taxi came to a stop, in front of Dani’s house.

“Uh, do you think you could turn on the interior light?” Dani asked the driver. “I dropped my wallet, and I’m having trouble finding it in the dark.”

The driver responded apologetically that the light had broken recently, and he hadn’t had time to fix it. Dani asked the driver to wait a bit, so that Dani could run inside his house to get a flashlight. Within a minute, Dani was back on the sidewalk, flashlight in hand. But where was the taxi?!

After frantically looking up and down the street, the unpleasant truth dawned on Dani. Rather than waiting for Dani to find the wallet, the driver had obviously decided to keep it for himself, and had driven away with the wallet on the taxi floor.

As Dani disappointedly walked back to his house, another thought struck him. He had just taken out a large amount of cash from the bank. Now the driver had gotten a very large tip.

Dani walked into the kitchen, and began relating the unhappy incident to his wife. As he stood talking, he put his hand into his other pocket, which had in it… a wad of cash! Then it came back to him. He had withdrawn money from the bank, but hadn’t put the money into his wallet, because there was a hole in the wallet, and Dani had been concerned that the money might fall out.

“Thank G-d! So that crook of a driver didn’t get anything, in the end” Dani exclaimed, triumphantly.

“You know, Dani, that actually might be a problem” his wife began, thoughtfully. “The driver meant to take your money, but he actually drove off without you paying him, and he didn’t manage to get any money out of your wallet. I wonder if you owe him for the ride!”

Is Dani’s wife correct? Does he owe the driver money, or did the driver forfeit the right to be payed?

Answer:

Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt”l:

There is no reason to exempt Dani from paying. The argument that the driver forewent the payment is not valid, because he only gave up the payment on the mistaken assumption that he would get more money from Dani’s wallet. Because the driver ultimately found that the wallet was empty, he did not really forego his right to collect payment.

Rabbi Chaim Kanievski, shlita:

Dani is not obligated to pay the driver. By driving away, the driver took a chance. Did the driver have any way of knowing how much money was in the wallet, in the first place? Why would he assume that it was guaranteed that there was a large amount of money there? The driver clearly had no idea how much money he was stealing, relative to the fair that he was losing, and took a risk, and lost. Many people get involved in illegal activities, despite the fact that they may actually lose out, in so doing.

Rabbi Kanievski goes on to say that this, in essence is a clear demonstration of what happens to all thieves! They steal, and don’t realize that they are actually stealing from themselves. There is no such thing as a person taking what rightfully belongs to someone else. In the end, he will only hurt himself. A blatant example of this is the case of the Jew in the United States, who stole about fifty billion dollars. The end of the story was that he was caught, at age 71, and got a jail sentence of 150 years. In the end, he is sitting in jail, penniless.

In summary: According to Rabbi Shteinman, zt”l, Dani is obligated to find and pay the driver, because the driver did not absolve Dani from paying. According to Rabbi Kanievski, shlita, there is no need to pay. The thief caused his own loss. This is the end result when anyone tries to take something which is not his. Ultimately, he is hurting himself.

*

The following story, from the book Tenu’at Hamussar (part II), demonstrates how the Chafetz Chaim acted, under similar circumstances: 

Wagon Fair

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, zt”l, known as the “Chafetz Chaim,” would often travel, in order to sell his books. Once, the Chafetz Chaim was being driven by a wagon driver, who did not recognize his passenger. The driver stopped at the side of the road, in order to allow himself and his passenger to stretch, for a minute. Both the driver and the Chafetz Chaim got out of the wagon. Suddenly, the driver climbed back into the wagon, and drove off! Left with no other option, the Chafetz Chaim made his way to the city on foot.

Upon arrival in the town, the Chafetz Chaim immediately sought out the whereabouts of the driver, and went to pay him a visit. The Chafetz Chaim paid the driver, despite his less than satisfactory performance. The Chafetz Chaim then found another wagon driver, and immediately left the town, without attempting to sell any books! 

When asked to account for his behavior, the Chafetz Chaim explained that, in all likelihood, the first driver treated him so terribly, because the driver thought that the Chafetz Chaim was simply a poor traveler. If the Chafetz Chaim were to stay in the town, word would probably reach the driver, that his ill-treated customer was actually a renowned Torah scholar. The driver might then be greatly distressed, at how he had mistreated a prominent rabbi. Rather than remaining in the town, and attempting to sell books, the Chafetz Chaim chose to leave quickly, thereby preserving the dignity of a man who had wronged him.