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

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Actually its a collateral scenario. The borrower borrows money with the axe as his collateral. If the poor man said, "I need my axe to make firewood for tonight", you would be obligated to return it (this is an independant mitzva). If you rent it out, the money you get thereby goes to pay down the debt.