Rabbi Dayan walked into class and greeted his students.
“Today,” he announced, “we begin the final topic of maseches Bava Kama. The last mishnah (119a) discusses a very relevant and common issue in business halacha. See if you can figure out what the topic is.”
“It talks all about launderers, tailors and carpenters, threads and wood shavings,” said Menachem. “How is that relevant?”
“Think beyond the specific examples mentioned,” Rabbi Dayan encouraged him. “What is the theme of the mishnah?”
“It is about remnants,” Menachem answered. “If you hire a worker and there is material left over, to whom does the excess material belong?”
“Excellent,” confirmed Rabbi Dayan. “Can anyone provide practical examples of this topic?”
“My parents recently had the bathroom retiled,” said Aharon. “The contractor who did the work charged the tiles directly to their card. There was almost half a box of tiles left.”
“My sister recently got married,” added Benny. “My mother chose a fabric with her at the seamstress, who then went and bought the amount of material she needed. There was a bag of fabric cuttings left.”
“My parents just redid our roof,” piped up Chaim. “The contractor used standard shingles and never really got into their cost. I think he took the extra shingles home.”
“We just had a carpenter build a wooden deck in our backyard,” added David. “We wanted the remaining wood for a tree house, but he only let us have the little pieces.”
“Our gardener laid sod,” Ephraim chipped in, “and there were a bunch of leftover squares.”
“You’ve all pointed out how relevant this question is,” said Rabbi Dayan. “What do you think the halacha is? Who gets to keep the remainder — the worker or the employer?”
A big argument broke out in the class. “Of course the remainder belongs to the employer,” said Aharon. “He paid for the materials.”
“What are you talking about?” retorted Benny. “The materials are included in the total price of the job with the contractor. It’s not the employer’s business what the materials cost.”
Rabbi Dayan quieted the students. “The answer to this question is very variable,” he said.
“What does it depend on?” asked Chaim.
“Our mishnah provides some guidelines,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “When a person provides material to a tailor, the tailor can keep small remnants of fabric; large, usable pieces belong to the employer. The same is true for someone who gave wood to a carpenter. When work is done at the employer’s premises, though, even small remnants are the employer’s.”
“What difference does that make?” asked David.
“The implication of the mishnah is that the remnants should belong to the employer, who provided the material, unless they are insignificant to him,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “When work is done at the employer’s premises, though, the remnants are readily available to him, and he might have some use even for small ones. Thus, the contractor cannot take any remnants without permission (Sma 358:14).”
“Why did you say the law is very variable, then?” asked Ephraim. “You’ve provided defined guidelines.”
“The details of this law depend on trade standards and vary from time to time, place to place, and case to case,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “The Shulchan Aruch summarizes as follows: Whatever the customer is particular about is his; what he is not particular about is the worker’s. In all of these kinds of issues we follow the common practice (C.M. 358:10-11).
“Furthermore, the rules of the mishnah apply if the homeowner bought or paid for the materials separately,” added Rabbi Dayan. “However, if they agreed on a total price for the job and the contractor bought the materials on his own, the remnants will usually be his, unless there is a common practice otherwise. He agreed to give a finished product for this price (Mishpetei HaTorah, B.K. #130).
“Of course, if the customer grants explicit permission or clearly does not care about the remnants,” concluded Rabbi Dayan, “the worker can keep them in all cases.”