[Avodah] agency

[Arie Folger]

On Thu, Jun 26, 2025 at 8:15PM Joel Rich <joelirarich at gmail.com> wrote:
> I  assumed, but it was not stated, that the ordering sibling paid for the
> merchandise on order and the other siblings "owed" their share of the cost
> to him.
> In your understanding, if the merchant stiffed the ordering sibling, he's
> on his own as well?

Halakhically, in you new scenario, yes, the ordering sibling would be
on his own.

Of course, none of that should prevent voluntary sharing of benefits and
burdens. The fact you could easily find a scenario where the ordering
sibling is disadvantaged shows that there is goodwill generating benefit
to generally behaving cooperatively even when one seemingly needlessly
benevolently incurs costs.

Kol tuv,
Arie Folger