[Avodah] Halachic who is right from "The Lost Scotch"

[Yaakov Moser]

One question that I would like to ask in connection with the case is 
what everyone has to say on why our gut "moral" feeling is so different 
from the Halacha (at least as presented by the author of the book):
Can we assume that usually Halacha, at least in realms of Hoshen 
Mishpat, is close to what we feel is morally correct and it is only this 
case which is out of line, or are there plenty of other examples of such 
a dissonance? [As noted the level of dissonance may well be one of the 
reasons this case was included in the book - and brought to our 
attention on this mailing list.]
To what extent is it just the particular situation presented (ie the 
wedding singer) which presents a moral problem, or is even the basic 
ruling brought in the Shulchan Aruch that the worker loses out because 
the river dries up a challenge?
What are the sources for this Halacha - and do we need to know more of 
the socio-economic/legal background to workers at the time of Hazal in 
order to understand the ruling?

I would be interested to hear other people's views on the subject.

Jason Moser

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