The Working Poor 89

A hired worker, within his time, can take an oath and collect his salary, etc. Why did the rabbis enact (takkinu) that a hired worker swears and takes? Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: They taught great laws here.

Are these great laws[mitzvot from the Torah ]? These are rabbinic enactments[fakkanot]. Rather, Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel,“They taught great enactments here.”“Great?”[Does this prove] by implication that there are minor ones?

Rather, Rav Nachman said in the name of Shmuel: “They taught fixed enactments here.”** The oath is the employer’s[right]. But the rabbis uprooted the employer’s oath and gave it to the employee. They did this for the welfare[lit.“The life”] of the employee. For the welfare of the employee do we cause a loss to the employer?

The employer himself is pleased that the employee should swear and take[his wages], so that workers will hire themselves out to him!

[Isn’t it just as logical to think that] the employee would be pleased for the employer to swear and oath and be exempt from having to pay him, so the employer will be more inclined to hire him in the future?

[No, because] the employer is forced to hire workers [to run his business]. But the employee, too, is forced to seek work and earn a living. Rather,[the reason the worker can swear and take— and is trusted] is because the employer is too busy with his many workers[to keep track of just one’s case].

So let him give[his wages] to him with an oath.

[He takes an oath] in order to appease the mind of the