A. STANLEY DREYFUS

accompanied without hesron kis, any out-of-pocket expense. The craftsman who is self-employed and is scrupulous about this mitzvah is permitted to rise, but one who is working for another person must place his obligation to his employer above his rendering honor to a zaken and therefore may not interrupt his labors.”? Epstein comments that this provision had become obsolete by his day, since craftsmen now sit on a chair while performing their tasks, and that allows them to rise and then return to their work very quickly, whereas in former times they were seated on the ground, and getting to their feet made for an extensive interruption.”

A different rule, says Epstein , applies to those who are occupied in the study of Torah . They must rise, because it is permissible to set aside the mitzvah of study to attend to other mitzvot.**

The sage should avoid making a nuisance of himself by thought­lessly(or even deliberately) passing in front of workmen that he knows will be obliged to rise in his presence. Certainly, he should never intentionally call attention to himself and thus compel the obeisance of others who are trying to earn their livelihood; instead he should choose a circuitous route that will keep him out of their sight. The Maharil (Jacob Moellin, d. 1427), we are told, was so sensitive to the inconvenience his passing by caused others that he was in the habit of carrying a Torah scroll through the street so that when people rose, they were paying homage to the scroll rather than to him. Other rabbis would carry a humash when they were called to the Torah , so that when the congregation rose, that might be regarded as an act of reverence to the sacred book rather than to a zaken.”

Out of their awareness of human foibles, the authorities were aware that some would deliberately avert their gaze(Ya atzim‘einav) when a sage passed by, to avoid having to rise.” Although there can

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