Question:
Sholam u'verachah, hope you are keeping well.
Just a quick shailah: Boruch Hashem I have the zechus of running a small night kollel. I am very makpid to pay everyone on time due to ba'al tolin and its five lavin involved. Today I went to the cash machine and took out money. However, tonight which is Rosh Chodesh when I came to pay, no one showed up to kollel. I am supposed to call up everyone and do what I can to pay them tonight, or does the fact that they never showed up exempt me, and if I pay the next time, I still get the mitzvah of beyomoi titein sechoroi?
Answer:
Hello,
Excellent! While many people unfortunately are not careful about this important mitzva, but you are. As a side point, not paying on time is only one lav and one asseh, and it is only 5 lavin if the person didn’t pay the worker, but not if it was only[1] late.
Regarding your question, you are not[2] oiver on the lav, because the “workers” didn’t come to get their money, therefore you didn't transgress anything, however unfortunately being that you didn’t pay them on time, you did not[3] do the mitzva itself. There is a story with the Chofetz Chaim that was seen frantically running thru the street of Radin shortly before Shabbos. Someone asked him what is the problem? He answered that there was a worker in the printing press, that he had to pay at the end of the week, and the person just went home and didn’t come for is money. Being that he wanted to fulfill the mitzva, he was running around trying to find where the person lives in order to pay him on time.
As a side point, once you are so careful about paying you kollel on time, the real time to pay them is on the last night that they learned[4] in the Kollel for that month. Therefore, if you are paying them according to the Hebrew month, then the time to pay them would have been, the night of the first day of Rosh Chodesh, being that is when they finished the learning for that month. (However, since last night was the second night of Rosh Chodesh, the time has already passed). But if you were paying them according to the English month, since last night was December 31, it would have been the correct night to pay them.
One other point, although the mitzva and lav only apply on the day or night that the work was completed, there is a mitzva[5] d’rabonon to pay them, then next time that they come to ask, and if one has the money, he has to pay them then. So at least you will have this d’rabonon.
The Chofetz Chaim[6] bring a Zohar, that a person who is careful about this mitzva that it gives him the bracha of arichus yamim. You should be zoche to this bracha.
Best wishes
Sources:
[1] ב"מ קי"א., חו"מ ס' של"ט סע' ב', וע' כס"מ הל' שכירות פי"א הל' ב' וכן סמ"ע בשו"ע שם ס"ק ב' שאם בדעתו לשלמו אינו עובר אלא על לאו א'. וכן בח"ח אהבת חסד פתיחה לפרק ט'.
[2] משנה ב"מ רי"א., וגמ' קי"ב. ת''ר לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך יכול אפילו לא תבעו ת''ל "אתך" לדעתך, שאם לא בא השכיר אינו עובר עליו וכ"פ שו"ע ח"ומ ס' של"ט סע' י', וכ"כ באהבת חסד פ"ט סע' י"א, וערה"ש אות י"ב
[3] אהבת חסד ח"א פ"ט -י"א, בשם שער המשפט, וחבל יוסף.
[4] מנחת צבי ח"ב ס' ב' אות ג',ד'.
[5]גמ' ב"מ ק"י: ת''ר ממשמע שנאמר לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך איני יודע שעד בקר מה ת''ל עד בקר מלמד שאינו עובר אלא עד בקר ראשון בלבד מכאן ואילך מאי אמר רב עובר .משום בל תשהא .ושו"ע שם סע' ח'.
[6] הקדמה לאהבת חסד פ"ט בשם הזוהר פרשת קדושים י"ט-יג.