Tanto el alquiler de un hombre, el alquiler de una bestia, como el alquiler de embarcaciones se incluyen en (Deuteronomio 24:15): "En su (o su) día darás su (o su) alquiler", y en ( Levítico 19:13): "No permanecerá el trabajo de lo que se contrata hasta la mañana" [ —todo cuyo trabajo es contigo, incluso bestias y vasos.] ¿Cuándo es así? (que transgrede) Cuando reclama (su salario). Si él no reclama, no transgrede, [está escrito: "con usted" (es decir, cuando el "permanecer" es) por su voluntad, y en contra de él.] Si él "lo desvió" [de sí mismo] a un comerciante, [diciendo: "Dale a este trabajador fruta por un dinar y yo pagaré"], o a un cambista, [diciéndole: "Dale un dinar en moneda"], no transgrede, [está siendo escrito : "con usted", y no si es desviado a un comerciante.] Un trabajador contratado (que reclama su salario) en su tiempo (designado), jura y toma. [Debido a que el empleador está ocupado con sus trabajadores y a veces piensa que él ha dado cuando no lo hizo, ellos "tomaron" el juramento de él y se lo impusieron al trabajador.] Si ha pasado el tiempo, no jura ni toma. [A pesar de que el empleador está ocupado con sus trabajadores, cuando llega el momento del endeudamiento, "pesa" sobre él y lo recuerda, y el empleador no es sospechoso de transgredir "No deberá permanecer".] Si hay testigos de que él reclamado (y no fue pagado), él jura y toma. Un ger-toshav [alguien (no judío) que se encargó de no servir a la idolatría, y que come carroña] está incluido en "En su día darás su salario", pero no en "No habrá que cumplir el salario de un hombre contratado con usted hasta la mañana ", [el versículo comienza" No oprimas a tu prójimo "— su compañero (judío), y no un ger-toshav.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
אחד שכר בהמה ואחד שכר כלים – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you,” – all that his work is “with you,” even and even animals and utensils.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
The laws “You must pay him his wages on the same day” (Deut. 24:15) and “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until the morning” (Lev. 19:13) apply both to the hire of a man or of a beast or of utensils. The Torah specifically states that an employer is not allowed to withhold the wages of a laborer overnight. The mishnah expands upon this prohibition and includes the wages owed for renting animals and renting utensils (which might include plows, mills and other farm equipment).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
לא תבעו אינו עובר עליו – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “with you”, with your knowledge or without your knowledge.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
When is this so? When the employee has laid claim to it, but if he had not laid claim to it the employer does not commit a transgression. An employer only transgresses these two commandments if the employee has made a claim for his wages. Although the employer is certainly obligated to pay his employee in any circumstance, he does not violate these two negative commandments until the employee makes his claim.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
המחהו – cut him from himself and placed him with the storekeeper and said to him: “Give this worker with a denar produce and I will pay,” or he said to the money changer, “give him for a denar money [as change].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
If he gave him a draft on a shopkeeper or moneychanger [the employer] does not commit a transgression [even though the employee has not yet collected]. In the time of the mishnah people used shopkeepers or money- changers as small, personal banks to hold their money and pay off their debts. If the employer gave the employee an I.O.U. with which he could collect from the shopkeeper or the moneychanger, he is no longer be in violation of the two negative commandments in section one. Although the employee may not yet have collected, the employer has fulfilled his role by giving them a document with which they will be able to collect later.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
אינו עובר עליו – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “with you,” and he didn’t give him an order to the storekeeper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
If an employee [claimed his wages] within the set time he may take an oath and take his wages. [But] if the set time had passed he may not take an oath and take his wages. If witnesses testified that he had claimed his wages at the set time [and was not paid], he may take an oath and receive his wages. In many instances the Mishnah will mandate an oath to ensure that someone is not making a false claim. The assumption is that people would not make false oaths and therefore the person who takes the oath is believed, even though he has no evidence. Oaths are usually sufficient to exempt a person from paying when another person makes a claim against him, so long as there are no witnesses to support the claim of the plaintiff. In other words, the defendant and not the plaintiff is given the opportunity to swear an oath in lieu of evidence or testimony. However, in our mishnah the plaintiff, i.e. the employee seeking his wages, may take an oath that he has not yet received his wages and he may collect from the employer. This is true as long as he demands his wages during the time period mandated in mishnah eleven. If, however, this time period has elapsed, he may no longer take his wages through an oath. In such a case he is not believed to say that he didn’t yet receive his wages, since normally they would have already been paid. If, however, he had witnesses who state that he made a claim at the proper time, he may swear and take his wages.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
שכיר בזמנו נשבע ונוטל – because the owner of the house/boss is busily engaged with his workers and sometimes it is thought that he gave it, but [in reality], he did not give it (i.e., the salary), he is made to take an oath from the owner of the house/boss and casts it (i.e., the salary) to the hired person.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
The law “You must pay him his wages on the same day” applies also to the resident alien, but not the law, “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until the morning”. Deuteronomy 24:14 specifically states: “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countrymen or a stranger (ger) who is in your land within your gates.” Picking up on the word “stranger” the mishnah states that one who withholds the wages of a stranger violates the commandment in Deuteronomy. However, Leviticus 19:13, the other verse which prohibits delaying wages overnight, begins by stating, “You shall not defraud your fellow”. “Your fellow” implies your fellow countrymen, and therefore one who withholds the wages of a stranger does not violate the commandment in Leviticus.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
שלא בזמנו – even though the owner of the house/boss is busily engaged with his workers, when the time comes for his obligation, they impose upon him and he remembers, and the owner/boss is not suspect of violating “[the wages of a laborer] shall not remain [with you].”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
גר תושב – who accepted upon himself not to serve idolatry or to eat carrion. He does not have [applying to him] because of “shall not remain”, as it is written at the beginning of the Biblical verse (Leviticus 19:13): “[You shall not defraud] your fellow,” “your fellow,” and not a resident alien.
