Business and Misc.Halachos of Infringing on Another’s Income

It is forbidden to infringe on another’s income in various ways [1]ה' סוגיות:

א- מערופיא (רמ"א קנו, ה, וסמ"ע ס"ס שפו)- כשיש לאחד מסחר ויש קונים עכו"ם שהם קונים ממנו כל הזמן, אסור לישראל אחר לילך אצל העכו"ם להשתדל עמם לקנות אצלו (וה"ה אם ישראל זה עובד אצל העכו"ם בקביעות וישראל אחר בא להעכו"ם ומוזיל המלאכה כדי שישכירנו). והתנאים בזה, דוקא כשרק קונים ממנו, ואין האיסור אלא לילך להם להשתדל שיקנו אצלו. אבל שיש מתירים לגמרי, שאין דנים דיני מערופיא (ע' רמ"א שם).

ב- יורד לאומנות חבירו (סי' קנו)- דוקא באותו מבוי אסור לפתוח, ודוקא כשהשני אינו משלם מס באותו עיר, ודוקא כשאין ריוח ברור להקונים אם יפתח השני. אבל יש מפרשים בזה כפי' האביאסף, שהיסוד הוא דבכל ציור שהוא פוסק לגמרי חיות חבירו (או עסק זה לגמרי, אפי' כשיש לו עסק אחרת), אסור.

ג- עני המהפך בחררה ובא אחר ולקח אותו ממנו מיקרי רשע (רלז,א-ב), לדעת רש"י מיקרי רשע אפי' בחררה של הפקר, ולר"ת אם הוא הפקר לא מיקרי רשע כיון שאינו מצוי למוצאו במקום אחר. והיסוד בזה, כל שרוצה לקנות איזה דבר ממוכר זה ובא חבירו וקנאו, מיקרי רשע.

ד- מצודת הדג (רעג, יג), לדעת רש"י כיון שהדג נתן עיניו בו, אסור לחבירו לבוא לתופסו. והיסוד בזה, כל שהוא עשה שום טירחא לתפוס דבר הפקר וגם מסתמא יבוא אצלו, הוי כאילו קנאו כבר ואסור לתופסו. אבל יש מתירים בדבר של הפקר. [וע' קצות (ד) כ' דהוי גזל גמור, דכיון שהדג נתן בה עיניו ורץ אצל המצודה, קנייה בהגבהה, דכל הגבהה שהוא מחמתו, קונה, כמבואר בגמ' קדושין (כו., ותוס' שם) שיכול לקנות הפיל בחבילי זמורות, כיון שמגביה גופו אצל הזמורות, וה"ה הכא. אמנם, ע' נתיבות שם הקשה עליו דלא דמי, דבפיל באותו זמן שהוא נותן שם הזמורות, הפיל מגביה עצמו, ומיקרי מעשה שלו, משא"כ כאן שהוא נותן המצודה ולאחר זמן הדג מגביה עצמו, לא מיקרי מעשה הגבהה שלו ואינו יכול לקנות. ועוד, באולם המשפט הקשה מטעם אחר, דבהגבהת הדג אין לקונה זה שום שליטה על הדג בשעת הגבהה, משא"כ בהגבהת הפיל הוי תחת שליטתו.

ה- עני המנקף בראש הזית (גיטין נט:, ושו"ע רעג, טז, ו-שע סע' ה), שאם אחד השקיע טירחא לאיזה עסק, אסור ליקח אותו משום דרכי שלום. אמנם, גמ' ב"ב (נד:) מבואר שאם ישראל א' שילם כסף לעכו"ם ליקח קרקע, מותר לחבירו ליקח אותו. וע' חת"ס (חו"מ ס' עט) ע"פ מהרש"ל ביאר היסוד בזה, שאם הוא טירחא מרובה דהיינו טירחא בגופו, אסור לתופסו, ואם אינו טירחא מרובה, מותר. .

There are four primary sources for this prohibition, each with some similarities to the others in their guidelines and exceptions. The first source is from a poor person who climbs to the top of an olive tree to shake out the shikcha, forgotten olives which go to the poor. It is gezel midrabanan to take those fruits, and one who takes it must return it (gitin 59, cm 370,5, and rema [specifically tircha b’gufo]). In this same vein, we have a metzudas hadag (gitin 59, cm 273,13), a trap laid for fish, which we say that the fish already belong to the trapper who laid it and another may not come and take it (which the ketzos understands to mean that the act of the fish traveling upwards towards to trap constitutes a kinyan hagbaha, and many take issue with that).

The second category is called ani mehapech bcharara, when one person is actively trying to acquire an item, hire a specific employee or to get hired for a certain job, we do not let anyone else try to obtain it (bava basra 21, c.m. 237,1), but this has a machlokes, acc. To rashi there is no exception, and acc. To rabeinu tam, there is an exception that one is permitted to try to grab it if the item is being given away for free, or, regarding getting employees or specific items, if this item is either a very good deal or it is rare to find such a good item. (When hiring a rebbe, this is certainly permitted, 237, 2.)

Next, we have yoreid lumnus chavero (sanhedrin 81 [calls it like infringing on another’s spouse], cm 156,5) which has even more leniencies. This means, if one person in a neighborhood (q how small we define a neighborhood, does it mean a dead end street, or just within a courtyard) has a certain job, no one else is allowed to start doing the same occupation. However, this is only true if he lives in a different neighborhood, but if he lives in that same neighborhood, or even if he lives else where but he pays the same (property and income) taxes as everyone else, he is permitted to open. L’maaseh, we therefore usually allow one to open a store in a neighborhood where a similar store already exists, but, based on the chasam sofer quoting the aviasaf, we only allow it if he will not force the original business to close, but if the first business will likely have to close, he may not open. Even within this chumra there are exceptions, such as if there is a tremendous benefit for the consumers, either because he will sell more or different types of products or because it will be more convenient or cheaper, it’s permitted because be have to look out for the customers, but if the customers are only non-jews, we don’t have a reason to permit it so we say he can’t open.

The last case is, merufya, which is basically that if a non-jewish client always buys items from someone, another jew may not try to convince the nonjew to buy from him. However, some permit this because they always view a non-jews money as hefker so it has the same leniencies as hefker.

To take a holistic view of these cases, let’s set some principles. Chazal were sensitive to the fact that we must protect to some degree those who put money into a business. However, this is weighed against the rights of the proletariat to engage in any business he wants to. So when one person clearly put much personal effort and money into creating a certain good or item, he has a real kinyan midrabanan in the fruits of those labors. However, when he did not invest much but it is viewed as “his” by virtue of being the first one to try to acquire the item, hire the employee etc., now there would not be a monetary obligation to reimburse the one he “stole” the employee from. According to some, there is even a certain leniency in that if the item is rare to find (like a hefker item) or extremely unique, it is permitted to interfere to try to take the item/employee, but the example given in SA (237,2) being a good rebbe which is hard to find, and other cases are highly questionable whether one may rely on this. However, it is permitted to merely put an ad in the paper to inform interested parties that he is hiring, or if one hears that employee is actively seeking other employment, he is allowed to engage him. Additionally, a third party with no financial interest (e.g., a friend or family member) is permitted to tell him that there is a job opportunity, because his interest is just to help out his friend. You can also offer the person the item for free; for example, if you hear that someone needs legal advice and he is planning on hiring a certain lawyer who charges for consultation, you are permitted to offer him free legal advice, or offer someone a free ride to the airport even if he was planning to hire a driver. It is usually a problem for a shul to try to convince a g’vir to daven at their shul instead of a different shul.

What about opening businesses? Since businesses always pay local taxes nowadays, the individual property rights of all are equal. What about the personal rights, that you will cause the other business to close? In general businesses such a legal or medical, it’s hard to say that OPENING a business will significantly hurt another because if we prevent this jew from opening, maybe a nonjew will open up in the same spot, and then we haven’t helped anything. However, let’s say it’s a Judaica store or kosher store. If he will provide a significant benefit for the jewish customers, by offering better prices or more selection, it’s permitted (CM 156,7 rema and aruh”sh), so usually, the reason why the existing store thinks they will close, and why the new store thinks they will be profitable, is because they indeed will greatly benefit the customers. So we do not punish the customers at the expense of the storeowner.

The last case, where someone has a steady customer base of nonJews, is …

(There are three other gemaras which deal with similar issues, and will their din (and how we translate the gemaras) depend on how we pasken the previous halachos. Namely, (BM 10) if you see someone trying to acquire an item by throwing his talis over it, which does not work as a kinyan, and you walk over and pick it up, you can keep it, not the original one who saw it. According to rashi, you would nonetheless be called a rasha, but according to rabeinu tam it is permitted because it is a hefker item. If a nonjew is selling land to a jew, the halacha (BB 54) is that when the nonjew receives the money, he first relinquishes ownership on it and it is in a status of “no mans land”, and then the jew, when he does a kinyan, acquires it. If another jew enters at that point, acc. To rabeinu tam the other jew is not called a rasha because how often do you find a property which is ownerless, but acc. To rashi, this is called a rasha (as rema paskens in 194,2), and the only reason it didn’t fall under the first category we mentioned of the shikcha fruits is because it was only money and not bodily labor. The third case is, you must keep your fishing nets far away from someone else’s because the fish “know where they intend on going even from a far distance” (which the gemara uses to explain why this is not exactly the same as protecting the nighebor’s occupation, which only applies to a nearby street), so this works acc. To rashi, but according to rabeinu tam, this doesn’t make sense, because the fish are hefker, and he holds that whenever the item is hefker it is not subject to this issur? So there are two opinions in tosfos, either because this is his parnasa, and when you infringe on his parnasa it is more stringent, or because we are referring to a trapper who placed a dead fish in his net so that many fish will gather to eat the decaying bits, and the fact that he is causing them to draw near makes them “his”.)

A. Taking Customers or Employees

If Reuven decided to transact business with Shimon, it is assur for Levi to make an offer to take away his business [2]רלז, א-ב (even if they did not formally sign an agreement). This applies to offering to buy an item which he is negotiating to sell someone else, poaching a steady client from a competitor [3]רלז, ב , or offering someone else’s salaried employee more money [4]משמעות שו"ע (רלז, ב) ממה שלא התיר אלא במלמד, משום דלא כל המלמדים שוים, כמ"ש סמ"ע (סק"ח). .

It is permitted in any of the following cases:

1. If there is an accepted industry standard- for example, one may not actively try to take someone else’s customer, but it is permitted to make “cold calls” from the phone book to try to find customers.

2. This prohibition only restricts a third party from interfering in other’s business. However, if one of the parties actively seeks him out, he is permitted to engage in business with him. For example, if a seller asks a potential buyer if he wants it, the buyer is permitted to make an offer on it, even if he knows someone else has agreed on a price with the seller [5]מהר"ם אלשיך (סי' סז). .

3. In an arrangement where it is not automatically assumed that one will continue his business relationship after the current term expires, it is permitted [6]הגהות רעק"א (על שו"ע רלז, ב) . For example, one may offer to hire a contract employee after his current contract ends, even though the current employer may want to rehire him.

4. One is permitted to inform his friend that he can find cheaper prices or better employment elsewhere, if he is solely looking out for his friend’s benefit and receives no benefit for doing so [7]ע' פתחי חושן (חלק ה, פ"ט הע' לב) בשם הליכות ישראל, מעשה באשה שרצתה להשכיר חלק מדירתה, והשתוו על המחיר עם משפחה גדולה, ובינתיים באו חתן וכלה לשכור דירה, והמשכירה העדיפה את הזוג שלא תסבול מרעש של המשפחה הגדולה, ופסק שאין בו משום עני המהפך, שאנו חייבים לעמוד גם על זכויות המשכיר שהשני נוח לו, והביא שם שהחזון איש הסכים שסברתו נכונה, ע"ש. . If one knows that his friend is planning to buy a certain item from a specific store and he knows that there is another store which has a cheaper price, he is permitted to tell his friend. He can tell his neighbor that he can earn more money by working at x employer rather than his current job.

5. It is permitted to offer an employee a significantly better position than he currently has, such as offering a teacher at a different institution a job as a principal, or offering a salesman to take an executive position [8]כן שמעתי שנהגו להקל ע"פ אבנ"ז (חו"מ יז) [אבל לא ראיתי זה בדיוק שם] .

6. If the item is unique or a very good deal, he is permitted to make an offer on it even though he knows someone else has already agreed on a price with the seller, although it is preferable not to do so [9]רלז, א. ע"ש הביא מחלקת בזה, ורמ"א כ' העיקר כדעת המקילין . One is permitted to a hire away a teacher from another institution, because every good teacher is unique, with qualities one cannot necessarily find in someone else [10]רלז, ב, ע"פ סמ"ע (סק"ח) . However, one may not offer a cleaning lady more pay to convince her to quit her current job, unless she is an especially exceptional worker (and even in this case, it is preferable not to).

7. Anyone is permitted to offer the item for free [11]כ"כ פתחי חושן (גניבה והונאה, פ"ט, סוף הע' ז) . For example, if one drives by a bus stop which offers shuttle service to Brooklyn, he may offer a free ride to someone waiting there, but he may not offer to take someone for pay, as this is taking a customer who has already expressed interest in the product.

B. Competing Businesses or Stores

One may open a competing business in the same area [12]רמ"א כ' במבוי אחר אינו יכול למונעו כיון שנותן מס as a competitor even though it will cause the other business to become less profitable [13]ע' (קנו, ה) אוסר, אא"כ נותן עמהם מס למלך.

ע' שו"ע (קנו, ז, רמ"א שם, וערה"ש יא), דמותר אם יהיה רווח בשביל הקונים. ודוקא אם הקונים יהודים, מותר.

והחילוקים בין אם הוא דר באותו עיר או לא, אינם שייכים כ"כ בזמן הזה, כיון שיש לדון אם כל הסברא שיש יותר זכות למי שדר באותו עיר הוא כיון שהוא משלם מס, וא"כ בזמה"ז שמשלמים מס גם אם יש לו רק עבודה שם, י"ל שכל איש נקרא בן עיר.

וגם כיון שיש עכו"ם שיכולים לפתוח חנותם בלאו הכי אין דינים אלו נוגעים כלל, דהא למה אני לא אפתח חנות, ובמקומי ילך עכו"ם ויפתח חנות (ע' מנחת יצחק ?). .

However, one may not open a business if it will cause another business to become unprofitable and therefore close [14]שו"ת חתם סופר (חו"מ ס' עט), ע"פ דברי הר"י מיגש ואביאסף, והו"ד פת"ש (קנו, ג). וע"ש שהוא גזל דאורייתא. , even if the other business owner has other forms of income [15]פת"ש (שם) .

Even in cases where it is permitted, if it will hurt another’s livelihood, one should consult a Rav whether he should open a competing business or not.

C. Stealing Another’s Idea

When one person put money and effort into an innovation, one may not copy it because that would cause the other person’s hard work to go to waste [16]כדאמרינן מרחיקין מצודת הדג, כיון דיהיב סיהרא, ר"ל כיון שהדג נתן עיניו לילך לתוך המצודה של זה שנתן לתוכו דג בשביל לצוד, השני שלוקחו ממנו הוי כעין גזל. . For example, if one came up with a new idea for a business and sunk significant investment into starting it, someone else may not copy the idea.

See {Laws of Stealing} for how this relates to copyright law.

If one knows that someone else agreed with a seller to buy a certain item at a certain price, he may not buy it. Even if they did not yet agree on the price but the other person definitely wants it and is still negotiating, it is preferable not to make an offer [17]רמ"א כ' שאם עדיין מחוסר הפסיקה, שהמוכר רוצה בכך והקונה רוצה בכך, מותר אחר לקנותו. וע' פ"ת רלז, ג בשם פרישה, דזה מיקרי השגת גבול, ואין היתר אא"כ כבר הלך ממנו הקונה. וכ' פתחי חושן (חלק ה, פ"ט סע' טז) דלפנים משורת הדין לא יקדים. .

One may not apply for a job after he knows that they agreed to hire a different applicant, or if he knows that if they hire him, they will fire a different employee.

If a customer enters a store intending to buy a certain product, or placed a certain item in his shopping cart, someone else may not come over and offer to sell it to him [18]רלז, א. , or tell him that a different store is cheaper. If a customer already entered a store (even if he didn’t express interest in any particular item), one may not tell him that a different store is better [19]פת"ח (גניבה והונאה פ"ט סע' ד) בשם חת"ס .

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