"The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night"

84. Rabbi Elazar continued: "You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob him; the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning" (Vayikra 19:13). HE QUESTIONS: Why, "the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night?" AND HE ANSWERS: This is understood from another verse, "At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon you" (Devarim 24:15). The words, "neither shall the sun go down upon it" MEAN be warned not to be gathered from this world because of him, before it is your time to be gathered, as the verse says, "before the sun...darkened..." (Kohelet 12: 2). THIS VERSE HINTS AT THE DEMISE OF MAN. From here, I learned another thing: THAT in the case of he who satisfies the poor man's soul, even when the time comes for his demise, the Holy One, blessed be He, satisfies his soul and lengthens his life.

85. "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night." Come and behold: taking the wage of the poor is tantamount to taking his life and the life of his household. He shortens his life, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will shorten his days and lessen his life from that world. For all the breaths that emitted from the mouth OF THE POOR MAN that day will ascend before the Holy One, blessed be He, and stand before Him. Later, his soul will ascend and that of his family, maintained with the breath of his mouth, MEANING THAT THEY WILL DEMAND JUSTICE BEFORE THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE. Then, even if from before there was decreed for this person many years and much good, all will be rooted out and taken away from him.

86. In addition to this, his soul will not ascend. This is what Rabbi Aba said: Merciful One! Save us from them and from their shame. We established that even if he is rich, YOU MUST NOT KEEP HIS WAGE OVERNIGHT. "...And sets his heart (lit. 'soul') upon you..." literally, MEANING, of any man. And more so the poor. This is what Rav Hamnuna did when the workman was departing after work: he would give him his wage and say to him, 'Take back your soul that you deposited with me, take your security.'

87. Even if THE WORKER said, 'Let MY WAGE remain in your hand or I do not want to receive my wage,' he would not agree to it. He would say, 'The deposit of your body is not proper to leave with me; all the more so the deposit of your soul. The deposit of the soul is given only to the Holy One, blessed be He,' as it is written: "Into Your hand I command my spirit" (Tehilim 31:6). Rabbi Chiya said: And with someone else, WHO IS NOT HIS EMPLOYER, he may DEPOSIT HIS WAGE? He replied: Even in the hand OF HIS EMPLOYER he may deposit it, but only after he was paid HIS WAGE IN HIS HAND.

88. HE ASKS: It is written, "the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night," and, "neither shall the sun go down upon it." WE INFER THAT HE IS OBLIGATED TO GIVE HIM HIS WAGE BEFORE THE SETTING OF THE SUN, BUT IN THE PRIOR VERSE HE INDICATES THAT THE PROHIBITION IS FOR HOLDING THE WAGE OVERNIGHT. HE ANSWERS: It is as we established. But come and behold: there is not a day that another supernal day does not govern over, MEANING ONE SFIRAH, BEING ONE DAY OF THE SEVEN SUPERNAL DAYS CALLED CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD, YESOD AND MALCHUT. If he did not give him his soul, MEANING HIS WAGE, on that day, it is tantamount to causing a defect to that supernal day. For this reason, "At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it." The words, "shall not abide with you all night," REFERS TO THE PENALTY, since AT NIGHT his soul will not ascend ABOVE, but the soul of the poor man and his household will ascend, as we said.