Bava Kamma 091

1:
Our mishnah is the continuation of the topic that was broached in the previous mishnah. Party A regrets having sworn that he is not in debt to party B. He must seek out Party B, wherever he might be, to restore to him the amount of his debt with an added 25%. (This added 25% is what the Torah and the sages call the "added fifth".)

2:
Our present mishnah is concerned with situations which are not clear cut. David borrowed 1000 dinars from Sara; but when the time comes to repay the loan David swears that she never gave him the money! (And Sara was foolish enough to have given the loan without witnesses or written testimony to the transaction.) Sara has no redress. However, later on, David has a severe pricking of his conscience, and he admits that he had, to all intents and purposes, stolen 1000 dinars from Sara. David must seek out Sara, where she might be in the world, in order to pay her 1250 dinars.

3:
The first clause of our mishnah deals with three possible scenarios.

• David had actually repaid the 1000 dinars, but still owed the added 250 dinars;
• David had not paid either the original loan nor the added 250 dinars, but Sara, out of the kindness of her heart, is prepared to forego repayment of the 1000 dinars, but insists on being paid the added 250 dinars;
• Sara is prepared to forego repayment of the loan and the "added fifth", but demands a symbolic payment of an amount which is less than one perutah, the smallest coin available.

In all these cases David does not have to seek out Sara to make repayment. In the first scenario David does not have to seek out Sara because the requirement to go "even to Media" to effect the repayment does not apply to the "added fifth", only to the capital. In the second scenario Sara has effectively put David in the same situation as he was in the first scenario: all he owes her is the 250 dinars, and he does not need to seek her out to make that repayment. In the third scenario David does not have to seek out Sara because the amount she is asking for is so small that it would hardly be fair to ask David to spend an enormous amount of money to travel "even to Media" in order to make a payment of next to nothing.

However, in all of these cases, of course, if Sara turns up on David's doorstep demanding payment David must pay according to her demand.

4:
The last clause of our mishnah reverses the situation in all three scenarios:

• David has paid the "added fifth" but not the capital;
• Sara is prepared to forego the 250 dinars but insists on getting back her 1000 dinars;
• Sara is prepared to forego everything except a symbolic amount which is greater than one perutah in value.

In all these cases David must seek out Sara wherever she may be in order to make payment. In the first scenario the capital must be repaid even if the "added fifth" is has been repaid; this is the effective situation also in the second scenario; in the third scenario Sara demands something worth more than one perutah, so David must make the payment.

Concerning BK089 Alan Marcus writes:

In this shiur, you speak of the workman's (in this case a dyer's) "expenses." I take this to mean his cost of materials, exclusive of his actual labor cost. Is this correct? If it is, would it be correct to say that the workman forfeits his cost of labor if he is negligent? If not, then is there a proper way to account for the cost of labor?

I respond:

Today I am a Tzaddik! I say this because our sages tell us [Berakhot 35b] that the tasks of the righteous are done by others! So, in response to Alan's query, see the message of Amnon Ron'el below.

Amnon Ron'el offers a mathematical way of understanding the situation in BK089:

The value of the original cloth is O.
The costs to the dyer are C.
The added Value is V.
The Dyer's remuneration is P.

So,

If the result meets the requirements of the client he must pay P regardless of O.
If the result does not meet his requirements because V+O>O the dyer pays to the client O and keeps the cloth which he spoiled.
If C If V

This applies, according to Rabbi Yehudah, even if the result is very different from the order (black instead of red).

Now I understand!