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

[Micha Berger]

RMK writes:
: This is exactly comparable to the case in the Gemara - I
: hired poalim to irrigate my field, and then it rained or the
: river irrigated the fields for me....

Not really, because the kallah isn't rain or a river.

I think people are so focused on the chasan and the singer that they forget
there is another party here. One who had some reason to expect that her
gesture might cause someone a loss; after all, entertainment is usually
covered by the chasan's side. What if the band came with their own front man?

I would therefore think that the chiyuvim would go as follows:

The chasan would have to pay Chaim ben Zundel the money he set aside for
entertainment. The rest of CbZ's fee should be covered by the kallah, since
the increased expense was her idea, not his. It was the kallah who stole
Davidi's evening, so she should pay his fee, which exactly equals the money
she thought she would pay CbZ but hadn't.

Whatever dissemblance the chasan had to pull of to preserve his (smaller)
surprise just shifts guilt from him to her. But between the two, which is one
kis anyway, there is assignable blame for the wasted evening. Even if
beshogeig.


On another note: I think RMS raises a good question about this genre of
sefarim. There is a real taaveh to provide an interesting and unexpected
answer. A push away from the intuitive or local civil law that has nothing to
do with din. Which means that you must assess each sefer to know if it really
reflects meaningful pesaq. I am not saying anything about this particular
sefer -- I have never seen it.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

Cc: RDHojda in light of last year's JA article at
<http://www.ou.org/pdf/ja/5766/winter66/PersIntegrity.pdf>. RDH recommended
using such bein adam lachaveiro sefarim of "Scruples" at the Shabbos table. It
would both make for interesting conversation and broaden the range of mitzvos
your children think of as core Yahadus.

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter