By Rabbi Daniel Travis
Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group slowly...
Yaakov said this as a sign of respect to show that he was concerned that
he should not waste Esav's time because of his family's slow pace. 1 One must be extremely careful not to waste
other people's time, a precious and irreplaceable commodity. There are
occasions when it is theft to waste someone else's time, such as an
employee whose time belongs to his boss. In other settings it is not
considered stealing to infringe on someone else's time, however it is
included under the Torah injunction, "You shall not cheat your
A prevalent example of this is "butting" ahead of someone else in line.
The halachah recognizes the right of someone to maintain his position in
line, and by going in front of him or asking someone else on line to take
care of something for you, you are infringing on that right. If however,
the person has some extenuating circumstance, e.g. he is an ill or elderly
person, or he will incur a large loss of money because of the wait, it is
proper to let him go to the front of the line, although one is not
obligated to do so.3
Similarly, it is permitted to ask someone else to take care of an errand
before that person gets in line. Since there is no set rule about how long
each person is allotted, he is not considered to have infringed on
anyone's rights. However even this has its limits, and one should not take
up an unreasonable amount of time. It is unfair for other people in the
line to have to wait while one person takes care of the needs of numerous
Countless opportunities arise each day in which people can show that they
value their friend's time. If a person makes an appointment with someone
else, it is a true sign of concern for them to show up at the scheduled
time. The Chazon Ish once disbanded a minyan when he heard that it would
cause one of the members of the minyan to be late for an appointment.5 Another common situation is returning an
item to its proper place, especially when it concerns books of Torah in a
Beith Medrash.6The principle to
remember in every situation is that if it would bother you to have to
spend your time in such a way, you should not expect others to have to do
1 Seforno on Bereshith 33:14.
2 Vayikra 25:17.
3 Meiri on Sanhedrin 32b.
4 Mishpatei HaTorah 1:84.
5 Brought in MiDevar Sheker Tirchak 143.
6 Kriana D'Igrassa 2:59.
7 Pithchei Choshen 9:13:30.
Text Copyright © 2008 by Rabbi Daniel Travis and Torah.org