“Good morning, Gedaliah,” Rafi Feiner said as he squeezed in between Gedaliah and another bachur at the breakfast table. “How’s our chassan doing? Getting nervous? I sure would be if my chasunah was just three days away!”
“I’m too busy to be nervous,” replied Gedaliah. “I’ve got a million things to do before I leave tomorrow for Toronto.”
“Tell me some of the things you need to do,” Rafi offered. “Maybe I can help.”
“Actually, there is one thing,” replied Gedaliah. “I asked Benji Bergman to be in charge of renting a van to drive to Toronto, but baruch Hashem, that van is already full, and there are a lot of bachurim who still don’t have rides. My father said he’d pay for another one. Could
you arrange for a second van?”
“Sure, no problem! Just cross it off your list,” Rafi assured him.
“Rafi, you’re the best,” Gedaliah said appreciatively.
That day after first seder, Rafi called Merkavah Car Rental and reserved a fifteen-seater van.
***
The next day Rafi went over to Benji Bergman to talk about coordinating their plans for the trip to Toronto.
“Benji, Gedaliah put me in charge of arranging a second van, and I wanted to work with you on travel plans,” explained Rafi.
“Oh, great! Driving convoy is a blast,” Benji said with his typical gusto. “But before we talk about that, let me ask you — did you rent a van already? Because I found a great deal on a fifteen-seater from a new place called U-Drive-It. My mother gave me their ad — it says that a two-day-one-night rental only costs $180. That’s a great deal! I called them up and reserved one already. You know what? I think I still have the ad in my pocket.”
Benji dug into his pocket to pull out the ad.
“Don’t bother, Benji,” replied Rafi. “I already reserved a van from Merkavah for $250. I even gave them my credit-card number. They told me they charge a fifty-dollar cancellation fee if I back out on them within forty-eight hours of the pick-up time. It’s not worth bothering to switch companies for twenty dollars.”
“You know what, Rafi? I remember seeing in one of Merkavah’s ads that they have a great price-matching policy. Here, take this ad from U-Drive-It and show it to them. I’m sure they’ll give you the van for $180,” Benji suggested.
“Thanks, Benji. When it comes to money, you’re the man to talk to,” Rafi replied.
***
The next morning Rafi drove up to the yeshivah’s dormitory with the rental van from Merkavah. He saw Benji standing next to a van, and he pulled in behind it.
“Hey, Benji. It worked!” Rafi called. “I showed the guy behind the counter at Merkavah the ad from U-Drive-It, and he shook his head and said, ‘A policy is a policy.’ He wasn’t happy about it, but in the end he had no choice but to give me the van for $180.”
“Well, that’s good,” said Benji. “At least one of us got a good deal. One thing I know — I’m never going to U-Drive-It again!”
“Why? What happened?” asked Rafi.
“They said it would cost only $180,” Benji explained, “but when I went to pick up the van and sign the papers, they said that because I’m driving it to Toronto, I would have to pay something they call an ‘intercity fee’ of ten cents per mile. It would come out to be more than a hundred dollars extra. So I went to Merkavah instead and rented a van for a flat $250. At least they don’t pull any ‘intercity’ shtick on you.”
“Wait a second,” Rafi said in an urgent voice. “That means that without even realizing it, I tricked Merkavah into matching a fake price.
They price-matched an apple for an orange! I’m going to have to tell them about the mistake.”
“Not so fast,” cautioned Benji. “Isn’t Gedaliah’s father paying for the van? You can’t just decide on your own that the van should cost more money. I think you should ask a she’eilah first.”
Rafi thought for a moment, then said, “You’re right, Benji. It’s not my money. I really should ask a she’eilah.”
***
At the chasunah that night, Rafi searched for someone qualified to answer a question in Choshen Mishpat. Finally, someone told him that Rabbi Lerner, who was a Dayan on the beis din, had just arrived. Rafi quickly went to find him.
“Rabbi Lerner, can I ask you a she’eilah that has to do with Choshen Mishpat?” asked Rafi.
“Sure, those are my favorite kind!” the rabbi replied with a smile.
After listening to the whole story, Rabbi Lerner said, “Your she’eilah is discussed in Choshen Mishpat 332:4. The Rema describes a case in which an employer tricks a worker by offering him a certain salary — let’s say ten dollars an hour. When the employer made the offer, he told the worker that he would be paid the same salary as all the other workers. In truth, however, ten dollars is not what everyone else is getting — they’re getting fifteen dollars an hour.
“The Rema rules that the agreement for ten dollars an hour is null and void, and the worker can demand to be paid fifteen dollars an hour, like everyone else. The Rema makes no distinction between a case in which the employer tricked the worker on purpose and one in which the worker was tricked inadvertently.”
“I had a feeling halachah wouldn’t let anyone get away with tricking someone, even if it wasn’t on purpose,” Rafi commented.
“Actually, the subject is more complicated than you might think,” the Dayan responded. “Of course, the Torah absolutely forbids tricking someone, and the Nesivos Hamishpat, in 332, s.k. 4, says that the money obtained through deception — and, I will add, even inadvertent deception — is considered to be stolen money and must be returned.
“However, it’s important to understand that not every time a person is given false information is he considered to have been tricked by it. The Ta”z, in 332:4, makes the point that a person involved in a business deal or sale generally doesn’t accept at face value the information the other party has given him; everything is taken with a grain of salt.
“Furthermore, not all information is truly relevant. Normally, when a customer tells a store owner that he can get the item for five dollars less someplace else, the store owner doesn’t really pay much attention. All he hears from the customer is a request for a discount on the item. The store owner will decide how much of a discount to give, if any, based on his knowledge of the market, his business costs, and a host of other considerations. Most likely, his decision won’t depend at all on the information the customer gave him.
“Often it doesn’t really matter whether the information provided is true or not, because no one is basing the deal on it. When a person understands this, he will realize that there’s really no point in lying when negotiating a deal, because the false information he is providing is automatically suspect anyway.”
“Rabbi Lerner, does that mean that a person is allowed to lie in negotiating a sale?” asked an incredulous Rafi. “I can’t believe the Torah would allow someone to do that!”
“Of course not,” replied Rabbi Lerner. “Lying in order to negotiate a better deal is absolutely forbidden. Anyone who does that is going to have to pay for his sin at some point. But not every aveirah has actual legal repercussions. The Ta”z is saying that although the person has committed a grave sin, the fact is that the deal was not based on the false information. Since that is the case, the sale stands. Of course, the sale would still be subject to the regular laws of onaah — overcharging — but that’s a discussion for another time.”
“So what about my case?” asked Rafi. “Is my deal with Merkavah for $180 void or not?”
“I’ll ask you a different question,” Rabbi Lerner responded. “If the Ta”z is right, why did the Rema that I mentioned before say that the worker is allowed to call off the original deal and get paid the going rate? Was the deal based on the information provided by the employer or not?”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” said Rafi.
“The answer, according to the Ta”z,” Rabbi Lerner continued, “is that the Rema is telling us that sometimes the parties to a sale do structure the deal based on certain information. In that case, if the information is found to be false, the original deal is off. The Rema was talking about such a case. Practically speaking, it will be up to the Dayan to determine what the underlying structure was in any particular sale.
“In your case, Merkavah’s price-matching policy is clear-cut. Whatever competitor’s price you show them they’ll match, no questions asked. That kind of deal is based solely on the information you provided. They’re saying, in effect, ‘Whatever the competition’s real price is, that will be the price.’ They’re not negotiating a price based on such considerations as their knowledge of the market. Therefore, since the information you provided was false, your original deal with Merkavah is void, and you have to pay them their regular price of $250.”
“Thanks, Rabbi Lerner. I’m so glad you came to the chasunah. If you hadn’t come, I’d still be looking around for someone to answer my she’eilah.”
“I know,” Rabbi Lerner said wistfully. “I’ve always wondered why more people don’t learn Choshen Mishpat. It certainly would help a lot of people who want to do business according to halachah.”