60b----------------------------------------60b
1)
THE SLAVE THAT DYED HIS HAIR
כי הא דההוא עבדא סבא דאזל צבעיה לרישיה ולדיקניה אתא לקמיה דרבא אמר ליה זיבנן אמר ליה יהיו עניים בני ביתך אתא לקמיה דרב פפא בר שמואל זבניה יומא חד א״ל אשקיין מיא אזל חווריה לרישיה ולדיקניה א״ל חזי דאנא קשיש מאבוך קרי אנפשיה צדיק מצרה נחלץ ויבא אחר תחתיו׃
Translation: Like in the case of a certain elder slave who went and dyed his head hair and beard black. He came before Rava and said to him: Buy me. Rava said to him: Let the poor be the members of your house. (I would rather give my hospitality to the poor of my own people.) He then went before Rav Papa bar Shmuel, who bought him. One day Rav Papa said to him, Give me water to drink. So he went and whitened his head hair and beard, and said to him, See that I am older than your father. (And you should not give me menial tasks to do for you.) Rav Papa applied to himself the Pasuk: 'A righteous man is delivered out of trouble, and another comes in his place.' (Mishlei 11:8. The Pasuk actually reads, 'and a wicked man comes in his place'. Rav Papa probably intentionally altered it, saying that 'A righteous man (Rava) was delivered from trouble, but I (the 'another') had the misfortune to buy you'.)
(a)
If the slave later whitened his hair again, indicating that he had no intention of doing menial tasks, why did he dye his hair black originally to be more easily sold?
1.
Ahavas Chesed: He did not whiten his hair again intentionally. When he was bringing the water, some of it spilled on him and washed off the dye.
(b)
How could Rav Papa apply to himself the Pasuk that 'a wicked man comes in his place'?
1.
Iyun Yaakov: Since he did not fulfill the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (1:5), "the poor should be your household members", as instead of hiring a poor Jewish servant, he bought a Canaanite slave.