You order a taxi, you take a haircut, you call a repair guy to fix your appliance. Of course, you pay them for their services. Are you aware that you just fulfilled a mitzvas asei? Or do you just do it because that’s what everyone does? You may as well have in mind the mitzvah and get added s’char for your intentions.
There is a mitzva in perek 24 pasuk 15 of “b’yomo titein sechoro” - to pay a worker on time. If someone works for you by day and finishes at night, you have an entire night to pay him for his work. If he was hired to work for you by night then you have an entire day to pay him. If he was hired for a couple of hours then you have the rest of the day to pay him his wages. Let’s say someone goes to the barber - when the barber finishes cutting your hair there is a mitzva to pay him on time, just like you have a mitzva to put on tefillin.
Someone once gave the Biale Rebbe a haircut and the Rebbe told the barber, “I want to pay you”. The barber was taken aback. How could he take money from a Rebbe? “It’s a z’chus, it’s a privilege to give a haircut to a Rebbe”, he said, “and furthermore, I don’t need the money.” The Rebbe told him, “I understand that you don’t need money, but do you want to take away my mitzva of “b’yomo titein sechoro? Take a lira and I will have fulfilled the mitzva”. We have to think about this whenever we pay a hired worker; we are fulfilling the mitzva of “b’yomo titein sechoro”.
The chinuch in mitzva 588 says that if one hires a worker on erev Shabbos to work on Friday and he is not able to pay because of Shabbos, there is a reason to say that he might no longer violate the mitzva of “b’yomo titein sechoro” because once the obligation was postponed due to Shabbos, it gets postponed altogether. There is still a rabbinic obligation to make a timely payment. Other reshonim argue with the chinuch (Tur choshen Mishpat siman 331) and they say that he has to pay before Shabbos begins. Since he knows that he won’t be able to pay at the usual time (which is the night after) he has to pay before Shabbos. Some say that paying the worker before Shabbos is not considered paying early; it’s actually considered paying on time because the halacha is that the employer has to give the worker enough time to go home and get ready for Shabbos. If that’s the case, he has to stop working while it’s still light outside and therefore there is a mitzva d’oraysa of “b’yomo titein sechoro” to pay before nightfall. (before Shabbos)
The sefer Zevach Hashelamim brings down from the sefer Sdei Chemed from the Arizal, and says that this halacha that one has to pay a hired worker before Shabbos is alluded in the words “b’yomo titein sechoro”. The first letters of these three words are beis, taf, and sin, which spell out Shabbos.
The Arizal says that if one is careful in fulfilling this mitzva, he will merit to receive a neshama yeseirah that comes from Shabbos. What is the connection between the neshama yeseira and paying your worker on time? Says the Zevach Hashelamim, Adam Harishon was the first person to receive a neshama yesaira. Adam was placed in Gan Eden with the commandment of “le’avda uli’shumra” – to work it and guard it. That was Friday, and when Shabbos came Hashem gave Adam a spiritual gift - the neshama yeseira. That was Adam’s payment for working and guarding the garden of Eden. It was a fulfillment of “b’yomo titein sechoro”. The neshama yeseira was given to him on Friday afternoon, and since then each one of us also receives a neshama yeseira if we follow the ways of Hashem and pay our workers on time.
Rav Bentzion Yadler didn’t have any money. Once, he had someone working for him and he didn’t have money to pay his worker. Yet, he wanted to fulfill the mitzva of “b’yomo titein sechoro”. What was he to do? He came up with a brilliant idea. Let’s say he owed the worker a hundred dollars for the job. So he went to his worker and asked him if he can lend him a hundred dollars. Of course, the worker was happy to lend it to him and R’ Bentzion happily gave it back to the worker, fulfilling the mitzvah of “b’yomo titein sechoro”. A loan can always be paid back later, but a hired worker must be paid that very day.
A story is also told about the Chofetz Chaim. He printed his seforim in Warsaw, and one erev Shabbos someone saw him running through the streets. This person questioned the Chofetz Chaim – why was the gadol hador running through the streets of Warsaw on erev Shabbos? The Chofetz Chaim explained that he had just found out the address of the printer and wanted to pay him before Shabbos to fulfill “b’yomo titein sechoro”.
It’s quite interesting to note that there are some mitzvos that get so much of our attention, and some mitzvos that just don’t. The Mishna cautions us to be vigilant in these “small” mitzvos, since we do not know what Hashem considers small or large. Paying our workers on time seems to be a mitzvah that is small in the eyes of people; we simply don’t accord it top priority. Our gedolim did – and we should, too. No mitzvah should be small in our eyes; each is a priceless gem, a precious commandment from Hashem that is an opportunity to earn eternity. So the next time you pay your electrician, your plumber, or your playgroup Morah, have in mind what you are really doing – you are fulfilling a precious Torah obligation.
