For Matanos L’evyonim donations Click Here

Book that fell and possibly got damaged

Question:

Hello Rabbi,

  1. If, in a store, I drop a book from its bookshelf, do I have to pay for it ?
  2. What should I do if I can’t tell if the book was damaged by me; or if the damage [if there is some already] was caused by me ?
  3. (I suppose that given they may deliver it by truck, the books are probably enduring some slight damaging)
  4. What if the book was in a plastic covering ?

Answer:

  1. If you indeed caused damage to the stores nook, you have to pay for the damages. NOt the priceof the whole book, but the amount of discount that the store has to now give the person who would want to buy it. Speak to the owner of the store, he might just say to forget about it, or work something out.
  2.  There is a good chance that you were the one who caused the damage, as it isn’t unusual for a store to keep damaged books on thier shelves. It is possible that it was damaged beforehand, but as far as your are concerned, you would want to make sure that just in case it was you, that you sort this out so you don’t have a debt to the store owner.
  3. It isn’t too probable that the book got damaged in shipping, as tis doesn’t happen often and because the owner of the store would have noticed it before it was put on the shelf.
  4. If the book has or doesn’thave a plastic cover is not the issue, but the damage that was caused to the book.

Best Wishes

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *