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Welcome to Fellow Weekly!
Encouraging intelligent and entertaining debate at your Shabbat table.
Fellow Weekly raises issues of business law and ethics through lively emails by featuring your real-life scenarios answered by our leading authorities and professionals. |
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in honor of the birth of their baby daughter Mazal Tov!
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CASE 144: Sited?
Sara Portman ran a popular family
dentistry on East Main Street
in Norfolk, Virginia. Sara was a compassionate woman who
cared for her patients as though they were her own family members. Tragically, her
husband Gil succumbed to a fatal illness three years before. At thirty-three, she still had a life full of
opportunities ahead of her.
Sara's patient Rebecca Green was
a community activist. At the helm of numerous
ongoing volunteer ventures, Rebecca became familiar with Abe Katz, a considerate and
passionate middle-aged CPA from Queens,
N.Y. Rebecca thought that Abe and Sara could make a
good match.
When Rebecca felt that her
dentist was ready to move on, she contacted both Sara and Abe and suggested that
they consider meeting each other.
Sara was seriously interested in meeting Abe. However, Abe was too busy at the time. April
15th was approaching and Abe had his plate full. Yet, he gave
Rebecca his word that he would consider listening to her suggestion after tax
season. All the while, Rebecca and Sara stayed in touch.
Two months later, Abe phoned
Rebecca and expressed interest in pursuing her idea.
"By the way, would you mind reminding me of her name? " asked Abe.
"Sara Portman", replied Rebecca.
"Funny thing, we are actually
seeing each other tomorrow night. I was
impressed at what I saw about her on a matchmaking site. I contacted her and we decided to meet."
Half a year later, Sara Katz was
moving part of her practice to Queens,
N.Y.
- Does Rebecca receive remuneration?
- If she
does receive remuneration, how much should she receive?
- Assuming matchmaking rates are generally higher in
Queens than in Norfolk, how does Rebecca configure the value of her services?
What is the law? [Based on a true story] [Submitted by: Rabbi Avi Hess, Member - Fellow Yesharim Research Center]
Please email us with your comments and answers at weekly@projectfellow.org.
Read next week's issue for the answer!
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LAST WEEK'S CASE
CASE 143: No Kidding!
"It's clean up time. It's clean up time", sang Morah Helen
Krieger with her twenty-five delightful preschoolers before the morning break.
Generally, Helen had a good handle on her four-year olds. Her
young saplings would naturally gravitate to her charm and spunk. Keeping a
momentum and order in the classroom was one of her strong points, which greatly
enhanced her overall classroom management.
Today though, things seemed to be a little more challenging.
Shira and Dini were oblivious to all of the
excitement around them. There they sat planted
on the floor in the back of the doll corner for a half hour. With serious
streaks across their cute little foreheads, their young imaginative minds carried
them far over the rolling hills and across the rushing Mississippi,
- miles away from their classroom in Seward
Park, Seattle. In their own little world, they seemed
to be wheeling and dealing and playing important roles in unfolding world
events.
While the rest of the children continued cleaning up the
toys, Helen tiptoed over to Shira and Dini's little world.
It was not long before their little world became her big world... Shira
and Dini were renting silver gowns and matching shoes for a wedding in New York.
Suddenly, Shira and Dini noticed Mrs. Krieger and turned to
her with excitement in their eyes. Dini piped up. "Shira's mommy's brother Dani
Lev and my mommy's sister Rina are getting married in New York..."
That night, Helen Krieger called up the two mommies and told
them about the funny game that their children were playing that day.
In less than an hour, the two mommies were on the phone and
off to work they went.
Four months later Shira and Dini cleaned up their toys and
were off to rent silver gowns and matching shoes for the Lev wedding in New York.
- Who receives the matchmaker's remuneration? What is the law?
[Based on a true story]
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The Answer
We present you here with a concise ruling. For a more intricate elucidation, please see the detailed explanation below.
No one.
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Detailed Explanation No Kidding! implicates the following two laws.
Generally, one is
required to pay for receiving benefit from an unsolicited
service that he or she would otherwise have willingly paid a third party to
perform (See Issues 14, 19, 29, The Case of the Baffled
Babysitter- Special Edition, 39, 40, 42).
To
this date, people willingly hire matchmakers to assist them in their quest; consequently,
the bride and groom must remunerate a matchmaker who initiated his or her
services, just as they would owe anyone who provided them unsolicited work for
which they would have been willing to pay.Thus, as mentioned in Issue 42,
a matchmaker receives remuneration as would any unsolicited service provider. However, (See Issue 40 for two more exceptions) if the benefactor initially performed the
service gratis, he or she may no longer require the beneficiary to pay for
the enjoyment received. There is no going back on a gift! [Choshen Mishpat 246: 17 Rema; 264:4 Rema]
Accordingly, unless otherwise specified, close family members typically broker matches for each other as a favor. Thus, the beneficiaries would be absolved for paying their relatives for the received benefits [ Pischei Teshuva, Even HoEzer 50]. Similarly, the beneficiaries are liable only to the provider who intended to provide them with a chargeable service.
Application
Shira and Dini were playing a game amongst themselves. We can assume that the four-year old girls had no intention of providing a chargeable service for Dani and Rina. Thus, Dani and Rina Lev would be absolved from remunerating Shira and Dini for their grand idea. Mrs. Krieger as well, merely relayed a cute story to the two mommies. She did not imagine that Shira and Dini's mommies would take the child talk seriously. Since she had no intention of providing Dani and Rina a chargeable service, Dani and Rina are absolved from remunerating her.
Similarly, Shira and Dini's mommies were close relatives to the bride and the groom. Unless otherwise specified, close relatives provide matchmaking services gratis. Hence, Dani and Rina would be absolved as well, from remunerating their sisters for their joint brokerage efforts. .
[Answered by the Fellow-Yesharim Research Center] |
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The Torah views fooling another human being as theft:
[Maseches Chulin 93-95]
Look out for an exciting upcoming series.
[Choshen Mishpat 228] |
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Note:
Although we aim to present the correct ruling, varying details are always important and decisively influence every individual case. Our readers are thus encouraged to present their personal cases to a competent authority and not solely rely on the information provided.
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