Study Bava Metzia folio 112B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
§ The Mishnah teaches: If a hired laborer requests payment at the proper time and the employer claims he already paid him, the laborer takes an oath that he did not receive his wages and then receives the wages from the employer. The Talmud asks: Why did the rabbis institute for a hired laborer, wh
Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: They taught great halakhot here. The Talmud is puzzled by this choice of words: Are these halakhot? They are ordinances designed for the proper running of business transactions, not halakhot that apply to everyone at all times. The Talmud emends the above statement
Rather, Rav Naḥman says that Shmuel says: They taught fixed ordinances here that are necessary for practical life. The reason is that taking the oath is actually the duty of the employer, but the rabbis transferred the oath of the employer and imposed it upon the hired laborer due to the livelihood
The Talmud answers: It is preferable for the employer himself that the hired laborer should take an oath and receive his wages so that laborers will hire themselves out to him with the knowledge that their wages are secure. The Talmud asks: Why not argue the reverse, that it is preferable for the hi
The Talmud now retracts the previous explanation: Rather, the employer is preoccupied with many laborers, and it is more likely that he forgot and mistakenly believed that he already paid this laborer’s wages. The Talmud asks: If so, i.e., if it is reasonable that the employer forgot, we should gi