[Avodah] Fwd: Integrity - Wasting Time

[Micha Berger]

Integrity
Rabbi Daniel Travis
genesis at torah.org

Wasting Time

"Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group
slowly..." (Bereshith 33:14)

Yaakov said this as a sign of respect to show that he was concerned
that he should not waste Esav's time because of his family's slow
pace. (Seforno on Bereshith 33:14) One must be extremely careful not to
waste other people's time, a precious and irreplaceable commodity. There
are occasions when it is theft to waste someone else's time, such as
an employee whose time belongs to his boss. In other settings it is
not considered stealing to infringe on someone else's time, however
it is included under the Torah injunction, "You shall not cheat your
friend." (Vayikra 25:17)

A prevalent example of this is "butting" ahead of someone else in
line. The halachah recognizes the right of someone to maintain his
position in line, and by going in front of him or asking someone
else on line to take care of something for you, you are infringing on
that right. If however, the person has some extenuating circumstance,
e.g. he is an ill or elderly person, or he will incur a large loss of
money because of the wait, it is proper to let him go to the front of
the line, although one is not obligated to do so. (Meiri on Sanhedrin 32b)

Similarly, it is permitted to ask someone else to take care of an errand
before that person gets in line. Since there is no set rule about how
long each person is allotted, he is not considered to have infringed on
anyone's rights. However even this has its limits, and one should not
take up an unreasonable amount of time. It is unfair for other people
in the line to have to wait while one person takes care of the needs of
numerous people. (Mishpatei HaTorah 1:84)

Countless opportunities arise each day in which people can show that
they value their friend's time. If a person makes an appointment with
someone else, it is a true sign of concern for them to show up at the
scheduled time. The Chazon Ish once disbanded a minyan when he heard
that it would cause one of the members of the minyan to be late for an
appointment. (Brought in MiDevar Sheker Tirchak 143.) Another common
situation is returning an item to its proper place, especially when it
concerns books of Torah in a Beith Medrash. (Kriana D'Igrassa 2:59) The
principle to remember in every situation is that if it would bother you
to have to spend your time in such a way, you should not expect others
to have to do so. (Pithchei Choshen 9:13:30)