DAILY CHIDUSH: Paying Employees On Time (Shocking Ba'al ShemTov Story)

0:07In last week's parasha, Parashat Shoftim, it says that Am Yisrael has to put judges and officers in all of their cities. But Chazal explains to us that we also have to put judges and officers on ourselves to limit our own yetzer hara, to put limitations on ourselves. If we know that we can't watch our eyes if we go to a certain place, then don't go there. If you have to go to a certain destination, go around the block, and so on and so forth. In this week's parasha, Parashat Ki Teitzei, we see how, when it's not applied, how terrible the situation can be. And the parasha, Parashat Ki Teitzei, says that you'll go out to war against your enemies. Chazal says, who are the enemies? The enemy is the yetzer hara. place, then don't go there. If you have to go to a certain destination, go around the block, and so on and so forth. In this week's parashah, we see how when it's not applied, how terrible the situation can be. And the parashah, parashat Ki Tetzei, says, that you'll go out to war against your enemies. Chazal says, who's the enemies? The enemy is the Yetzer Hara. So one of the ways that we see in the parasha is in chapter 23, verse 22, in parashat Ki Teitzei, Sefer Devarim, Book of Deuteronomy, which says that when you make a vow to Hashem, your God, you shall not be late in paying it. For Hashem, your God, will demand it of you, and there will be a sin on you. This means that when a person says, "I'm going to do such and such," for example, "I'm going to donate...

1:32$1,000, I'm going to buy aliyah, $1,000, $10,000, whatever the amount of money is. That's a vow to HaKadosh Baruch Hu that every second that you do not fulfill it, you have a very serious problem. Unless there's already a prearranged plan where you already told them, "Listen, I'll donate $10,000, but I'll pay it over the next three months, over the next six months." It's prearranged. But if a person simply doesn't pay it, every single second that he doesn't fulfill it, he has a very serious sin on his hands. And the parasha says, Hashem will demand it of you, meaning that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will send His own private collection on you. This means that He'll give you problems in your life. Now, most people think that the biggest problem is the issues that we have between us and Hashem. But in reality, if you continue the parasha and go to Chapter 24, verses 15 and 16... You see that this is really a problem between one person and another person. Where it says, "on a day," this is talking about hiring employees. It says, "on a day, you shall pay for his hire. The sun shall not set upon him, for he is poor, and his life depends on it. Let him not call out against you to Hashem, for it shall be a sin to you."

2:59So here the parashah is talking about when you have employees, you have to pay them on time. Because you do not want a person that depends on you paying them on time to ever cry to Hashem that he didn't get his money. He worked, he expected to get money. Whether you have problems or not, whether your business is doing well or not, That's irrelevant. He worked because he's supposed to get paid. He's expecting to get paid. No one works for free, and no one works with the consideration that if your business doesn't do well, they won't get paid. that if your business doesn't do well, they won't get paid. Why? Because they're not partners in the business; they're employees. If they're partners in the business, then that's a different story. They know that there's a risk there. But an employee, a wage worker, always knows that the security blanket that he has is that if I work, I'm going to get paid. Whether there's a profit or a loss in the business is not my problem. Now, here we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is even

4:03Just as strict as he is when you break a promise to Hashem Himself, meaning he says don't let the situation get to a point where this person cries to Hashem because he doesn't have money. Why? Because then HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself has to take revenge against this person, this person that's not paying his employee, that's not paying, making his financial situations even worse, and to such an extent that you see that it could literally cause the entire business to go bankrupt, it could cause the person to lose everything that's dear to him. Now, worse than all of this is that it's considered gezel, it's considered stealing, so long as he's not paying back his employees. He's not paying his employees on time, it's considered as if he's stealing it from them. If the person in his mind says, "Okay, I'll just pay them back next week, I'll just pay them back next month, I'll just pay them back next year, whenever. You know, I'll keep them around, but I'll pay them back eventually," meaning he has good intentions. The only problem with that equation is the fact that he doesn't really have any guarantee that he'll live to see that day. Why? Because so long as he's an enemy of Hashem, he's living on borrowed time. So that means that if HaKadosh Baruch Hu sees the sin is too great, he's not paying good people...

5:27for a long period of time, Hashem could literally take his life. Now, what's the problem with that? The problem is that no person could ever enter Gan Eden if he has even a single dollar that he's stolen in his life. Even if he fulfilled all of the other mitzvot, even if he kept Shabbat and he kept Taharat HaMishpacha and he kept kosher and he kept this and he kept that, Once he gets to Shamayim, they said, "I'm sorry, sir, you cannot enter Gan Eden." "Yeah, but I did all these mitzvot, I learned Torah, I did this, I did that." "Okay, you did all these things, great, but you have blood on your hands." Another name for money in Torah terms is damim, blood. Why? Because people spend their life, their blood, acquiring it. And Shamayim says, "You have blood on your hands." owned many horses and the Baal Shem Tov one day came to him. They told him, "I want to acquire a horse. Tell me." He says, "Of course, anything you want, just call me. I have all my ranch over here. You could take anything you want. I have hundreds of horses." And the Baal Shem Tov looks at one of them and says, "I want that one." The poor guy

6:44owned many horses, and the Baal Shem Tov one day came to him. They told him, "I want to acquire a horse." He says, "Of course, anything you want. Just call me. I have all my ranch over here. You can have anything you want." He had hundreds of horses, and the Baal Shem Tov looks at one of them. He says, "I want that one." The poor guy Starts crying. He says, "What are the chances that you're going to pick that one? I told you, you could have any one that you want. Figuring there's hundreds over here, you pick something else. Please, not this one." The Baal Shem Tov says, "I'm sorry. That's the one that I want." That's what I came for. I came for him because, please, this is a good, this is such a good horse. This horse, I don't have to tell him to work. He just mamash wakes up, he's ready to work. He wants to work more than I want him to work. All the other horses, you have to maneuver them, convince them, entice them. This one works so much. He's the best worker. Any chance you get any other horse, he says no. This horse, because listen, for the love, because of you. I love you. You want this horse, here you go.

7:52It's my best horse. You can have it. Baal Shem Tov says to him, you sure I can have it? He says, yeah, 100%. He goes, okay, good. He said, let me ask you a question. Now that it's my horse, I wanted to ask you a different question. He goes, any chance that you know anybody that died recently? He goes, yeah, my dear friend. My dear friend David, he died recently, just a few months ago. He goes, oh, and David, he owed you money? He goes, yeah, it's my friend. I feel bad that he died. No big deal. He goes, yeah, but did he owe you money? He goes, yeah, he owed me a little bit of money. He goes, how much did he owe you? He goes, he owed me $100. Now the hundred dollars, I mean, was important to you? He goes, listen, it's a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars, but it's my friend. I like my friend much more. He said, say if David is in a situation where, I mean, right now you can't pay the hundred dollars back, I mean, you forgive him? He says, of course I forgive him. Of course I forgive him. He's my friend. He died. He can't be back. He died. He goes, no, but you forgive him a hundred percent. It's out of your heart. now, the hundred dollars, I mean, was important to you. He goes, "Listen, it's a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars. But, uh, it's my friend. I like my friend much more." He said, "So, if David is in a situation where, I mean, right now you can't pay the hundred dollars back, I mean, do you forgive him?" He says, "Of course I forgive him. Of course I forgive him. He's my friend. He died. He can't be back. He died." He goes, "No, but do you forgive him a hundred percent? Is it out of your heart?"

9:09he came into this world as a reincarnation, as a horse, just so he can work for you until he pays you the money back. However many years it could be to be worth $100. But now that you say you forgive him, he completed his tikkun and he can go to Gan Eden. This Rabotai HaKirim is a comment He came into this world as a reincarnation, as a horse, just so he can work for you until he pays you the money back, however many years it could be to be worth $100. But now that you say you forgive him, he completed his tikkun and he can go to Gan Eden. This, Rabotai HaKedoshim, is a comment The problem that people have is thinking that they can simply pay people whenever they feel like it or not pay them just because they don't have it. It's a mistake, a very, very big mistake. Shamayim says that owing people money is a very, very big problem. It's a very big sin. If you have the ability to pay somebody, you must pay them. It doesn't matter whether you're profitable or it's convenient. If you have it, meaning you have employees...

10:30You have partners. You have friends. You have somebody. You owe him money. Especially if it's a Yid. Especially if it's a Jew. You owe him money. You have to pay him back. Yeah, but I don't have the cash now. So go sell your goods. Yeah, but if I sell them now, I'll take a loss. It's better to take a loss than end up going to Gehinnom. The point is, Abotai, is that if you're going to have employees, you have to pay them on time. You must pay them on time. Every second you delay... You have a sin from the Torah. Every second, you have to make sure you pay people on time. Why? Because none of us are promised another second. Because all the plans we have, "Oh, I'll pay them on Monday, I'll pay them next week, I'll pay them next year," don't always work that way. And I promise you, all the losses in the world are not worth coming back as a horse. May Hashem give all of us some chizuk, especially before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. where we promised to HaKadosh Baruch Hu that we're going to close all the loans that we have outstanding, all the debt that we have outstanding to our fellow brothers and sisters, and even more so, to fix ourselves moving forward. Kol tuv and hatzlacha rabba.