<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/17/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Jonathan Baker</b> <<a href="mailto:jjbaker@panix.com">jjbaker@panix.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">RMKopinsky:<br><br>> I remembering seeing a Teshuva once (maybe Shu"t haRashb"a - I saw it on the
<br>> Bar Ilan CD, so I don't remember what it was) asking about a person who<br>> said, "I will give tzedaka if my son gets well, and I won't give tzedaka if<br>> my son doesn't get well." The question was, can you force him to give the
<br>> tzedaka in any case, enforcing the Mishna in Pirkei Avos, "Al Tihyu<br>> ka'avadim." The answer was that no he doesn't have to give the tzedaka.<br><br>So I've heard informally in other places: "tzedaka is the one thing you can
<br>do to test Hashem; anything else, e.g. 'if X doesn't happen, I'll eat a ham<br>sandwich', is right out."</blockquote>
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<div>I've heard this before as well, related to "Aser t'aser - aser bishvil shetis'asher".</div><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Tangentially - I wonder if we point that mishnah correctly? Maybe it should<br>be "al tihyu k'OVDIM"? The slave doesn't work to get a reward, he works
<br>to avoid punishment. The employee works to get his wage.</blockquote>
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<div>Except that b'lashon Chazal, workers are poa'alim, not ovdim. I don't have an answer to your question about working for wages vs. working to avoid punishment. Perhaps if you translate avadim as servants rather than slaves, it makes sense. (Actually, perhaps this is a proof that eved doesn't mean slave, but rather servant.)
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<div>KT,</div>
<div>Michael</div></div>