I borrowed a sefer from a friend who brought it to me from his house. Is his bringing it to me considered ba’lav e’mo? I was thinking that the mishna in Baba Metziya 98b only says that b’yad b’no avdo and shlocho is mechayev the shoel, but maybe b’yad ba’lov mamesh would be sha’ayla b’ba’lim (see Tos 99a s.v. b’amor). Also, bringing the sefer is lechora no worse than hashkeini mayim (see Nesivos Hamishput 305:3). [I have seen that the Chelkos Yoav Vol 2 number 93 deals with this issue and would like to know if that halacha is in accordance with him or not.]
Answer:
Chelkas Yoav writes that the exemption of ba’alav imo applies when the owner gives the item to the borrower (he quotes this from Nesivos 305, and writes that it depends on a dispute among Rishonim), but adds that the owner’s handing over the item is usually an action worth less than a perutah. According to this, when the action of delivery is substantial, the borrower would be exempt from all liability. However, his chiddush is difficult to accept, because the act of handing over the item takes place before the onset of the shemirah, whereas the exemption of ba’alav imo applies only when the owner is in the borrower’s service at the time of the onset of shemirah. Nesivos, in fact discusses a case of delivery after the shemirah has already begun. It would be difficult to rule the Chelkas Yoav in a practical sense, without other reasons for exempting the borrower.
