daf bit: Bava Metzia 82

[cellio]

The mishna teaches: Abba Sheul said: one may hire out a pledged item from a poor man, fixing a price and diminishing the amount owed. The g'mara clarifies: Abba Sheul ruled this way only for a hoe, a mattock, and an axe, because their hiring fees are large while the depreciation this causes is small. (80b mishna, 82b g'mara)

The charity this affords to the poor man is interesting. I do wonder why in this scenario the poor man does not himself hire out the tools and collect the money; perhaps people are more likely to cheat a poor man than another member of the community, and so the lender does an additional service to the poor man by acting as agent? (That's me talking; I have no evidence one way or the other for the reasoning.)

Comments

[cellio]

I was wondering about the case of the poor man renting out his tools instead of pawning them, but the pawn-shop scenario does provide immediate, full payment, which the poor man probably needs.