Dear Rav Kornfeld and Rav Weiner:
We have a question more on the Artscroll extra words than on the mishna, with a possible super-commentary explanation to ask about.
On daf 12B1 in the right column in the second block of text, we are trying to understand the reasoning of why and when a skilled worker would take time out of their work to pick up a valuable find.
It would seem that since a Hebrew servant is apparently pre-paid for all of their work, that they are always "on the clock", and therefore only when sleeping or specifically off duty would be able to acquire an ownerless find.
Now, in Artscroll's explanation we have the following words. I shall insert extra words between {braces} for how I think we can flesh out their explanation.
R' Chiya bar Abba said in the name of R' Yochanan: Here in the Mishna we are dealing with a servant who drills holes in pears (or is otherwise highly skilled), whose master does not wish to transfer him to any other work. Since the servant is engaged in such a profitable labor {TO HIS MASTER}, it would be unusual for it to beworthwhile for him {the servant} to take off time to pick up a find. Our Mishnah deals with the unusual cae in which the servant discovered a find whose value exceeded the value {TO THE MASTER} of the time necessary to acquire it. Since the master did not envisage such a happenstance {and specifically told the servant that he was ONLY to involve himself in the skilled labor, that that was the only work he wanted him to do}, he never intended for the servant to acquire finds for him {master} as part of his duties. The servant is therefore free to acquire the find for himself {the servant}.
Problem 1:
To the servant, who receives no profit nor incremental fee for labor, any find is of greater value to the servant than the time cost involved of picking it up, if he can acquire it.
Problem 2:
In this case since it is of higher value than the cost of the lost labor, it is to the master's benefit for him to deviate from the implicit or explicit instructions of the master, and as the gemara said before, one can acquire something for someone else if it is to their benefit.
Therefore, the following scenario might work:
The worker is expected to drill holes in a specified number of pearls as his work quota for that period of time.
If the worker were finished with that measured amount of work, he'd then be on his own time, and could acquire things for himself, without taking profit away from his master. There is no other work for him to do since the master does not want him to do other work.
Thus the worker must be in the middle of doing assigned work.
The worker thus could reason to himself:
This find is worth more to my master than the value of my labor. Eventhough I will be violating my master's wishes, and might be punished if it turns out I cannot complete the work in the time that the master expects, and I can justify my action because it is for the master's benefit.
If however I finish the work in time despite taking my time away from my work to pick up this find, then I have not hurt my master (or any employer) at all, and this find will be mine to keep.
Thus if it turns out I am harming my master by taking time away from work, I can compensate my master by giving him this find, which was for his benefit to pick up.
Question for the kollel:
Is this a proper way to understand these aspects of the situation which Artscroll attempted to elucidate for us?
Robert Chesler
Dear Robert,
I enjoyed reading and learning your question.
We understand the Gemara like this:
As you explained, with a highly skilled servant, the owner only thinks of his regular work. So if a very expensive Metziah is found, the servant can take it for himself if he pays for his missing labor to his owner. (See Artscroll footnote there.) If the Metziah is worth equal on less than his labor, the servant has nothing to gain.
He need not make your conditions of "if this", etc. The owner is fully compensated for what he expects and the servant is free to take the find for himself. See Rashi DH she'Ain Rabo. This is what the Artscroll means.
All the best,
Reuven Weiner