Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

19 Av 5761 - August 8, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Produced and housed by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Opinion & Comment
Who Goes First? A Look At Some Of The Halachic Issues Involved In Waiting In Line

by HaRav Yitzchok Silberstein with Rabbi Tzvi Yabrov

Part II

Introduction

There are many areas of life where waiting in line is unavoidable. When there are a number of applicants for treatment, for services or for assistance, they are usually attended to on a first-come-first-served basis. This article deals with whether and under what circumstances, it may be justified to put a later arrival ahead of others in line. In the course of the discussion, the halachic basis for the whole idea of waiting in line is examined.

First, some common questions relating to queue jumping.

1. May one accede to the request of a sick patient, whose condition is not dangerous, to put him ahead of other patients who are waiting in line?

2. May one move a patient to the front of a queue of people who are waiting for minor surgery, e.g. hernia or eye operations, when it is certain that the postponement will not cause any danger to the others?

3. Reuven tenders a request for government assistance, or for a loan from a gemach, and is told that he must wait on line. Since he is friendly with the clerk or the gabbai who processes the applications, Reuven asks his friend to put him at the front of the line. May his friend grant this request, even though it will certainly mean further delay for others in having their needs met?

4. Reuven just needs to buy a stamp from the teller at the post office, while all those in front of him in line have lengthier business to conduct. May the teller accede to Reuven's request to sell him his stamp first?

5. Reuven is hurrying to shacharis, but he must first bring home some groceries. When he comes to the cash desk to pay, he finds a long line of school children there. If he waits for all of them to finish, he will miss the minyan. May he go to the head of the queue, or will he be stealing their time by so doing, rendering his subsequent tefilloh an abomination?

6. Is a store owner allowed to attend first to the purchases of a wealthy and valuable client, and leave those in front of him in line, to wait?

The first part explained that if taking clients in order is part of the job description then the worker has no right to change the order. This generally applies to large organizations.

The Meiri on Sanhedrin writes: "There are certain situations which are not governed by [a fixed set of] obligations, but in which one must pursue the most correct course and compel one of the parties to act in a way in which he is not [expressly] obliged, in the interests of reaching the best possible compromise. This is what Chazal referred to when they said, "One posuk says, " . . . Betzedek tishpot amisecho, (Judge your comrade favorably)" (Vayikra 19:15), while another posuk says, "Tzedek tzedek tirdof . . . (Pursue the most just path)" (Devorim 16:20). Here (i.e. the first posuk), it refers to the actual law, and here it refers to compromise.

The Basis for Queuing

An important principle is contained in the Meiri's explanation: The basic premise of queuing, the rule that "First come, first served," does not have the standing of a fixed halochoh. Rather, it is a compromise, which the posuk, "Tzedek tzedek tirdof . . . " enjoins us to implement. The first in line goes first, in the same way that a laden boat goes before the empty one. This is, to quote the Meiri, "the most correct course," yet it is "not governed by [a fixed set of] obligations."

The great mussar teacher, HaRav Itzele Blazer zt'l, author of Kochevei Or is also apparently of the opinion that a queue is simply a customary arrangement that has been adopted. On page 72, he writes, in explanation of Chazal's statement that all the world's inhabitants pass before Hakodosh Boruch Hu on Rosh Hashonoh like bnei moron (sheep, according to one of the gemora's explanations) that they referred to, "the custom in a place where great crowds gather, such as the yard before the travel house, where many people come to request travel slips, and each of them wants to hurry and conduct his business first. It has been made a rule and a fixed custom that whoever arrived first, attends to his business first. Therefore, in order to preserve the order, all those who come stand in a line, one behind the other, so that the first to come will merit being attended to first. So it is on Rosh Hashonoh: whoever merits passing first is successful."

According to HaRav Blazer, the queue is therefore "a rule and a fixed custom," which should be honored because of the command to, "Pursue the most just path . . ."

Another source where queuing is mentioned, is the letter of the Roman Consul who witnessed the offering of the korbon Pesach in Yerushalayim. The letter is quoted in Shevet Yehudah and in the siddur, Beis Yaakov. The Consul wrote, "When the tenth day (of Nisan) arrives, everybody goes out to buy the sacrifice which they know as Pesach. It is one of the Jews' rules that when they go out for this service, no one says to his friend, `Move aside!' or `Let me pass,' even if the later one was Solomon or David, their kings. I asked the priests, is this not a breach of etiquette? (i.e. to let the king or more senior in rank stand in line, without putting him ahead of others) and they replied that this was in order to show that there was no distinction before G-d during the preparation of His service, and how much more so during His actual service. At those times, they are all equal."

Chazal also instituted an order in the distribution of pei'oh to the poor. The Rambam (in Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 2:17), writes that, "pei'oh is distributed to the poor at three times of day, in the early morning, at midday and in late afternoon. If a poor man comes outside of these [fixed] times, he is not allowed to take, so that there should be a fixed time when all the poor gather to take. Why didn't they fix a single time of day? Because there are poor nursing mothers who need to eat at the beginning of the day; there are poor children who are not awake in the morning and who will not get there before the middle of the day and there are the elderly, who do not get there until minchoh time."

This halochoh too, may have been prompted by the mitzvoh of tzedek tzedek tirdof and concern for the weak and wretched.

A Dual Obligation

In the light of the Meiri's comments, it seems that the dayonim have to put an orphan or widow first for two reasons: First, it is their special obligation as dayonim who are commanded to, "Judge [on behalf of] the orphan, take issue [on behalf of] the widow." They must make it clear that they are the "father of orphans" and the "defender of widows."

Second, they are included in the general rule to put them first because of tzedek tzedek tirdof. The reason for stressing that two separate principles are in operation here is that there can be cases where only one of them applies. For example, if a group of Jews appears in a gentile court (under circumstances where they would be permitted to do so), they would be obliged to let an orphan or widow go first. Even though the gentile judges would not be bound by the first reason, the disputants themselves would be bound by the second.

In a Jewish beis din too, if a dayan did not let a widow or orphan go first, according to the second reason, they would be allowed to claim restitution for their mistreatment, because their right to be heard first due to tzedek tzedek tirdof had not been honored. With regard to the first reason however, it may be that an orphan has no claim against a dayan for ignoring what is a moral injunction to dayonim to put certain classes of disputants first, rather than a definite right of those classes to be given precedence.

Conclusion

By way of conclusion, we return to the questions that were raised at the beginning of the article:

Questions 1. and 2. This would only be allowed if the patient asking to be put in front was less able than those ahead of him to wait for his turn, either because of his medical condition, or because of some other pressing circumstance. In such a case, he would have a clear right to go first.

3. The gabbai has no right to help Reuven as a favor to a friend. Only a more urgent situation than others would give Reuven (or anyone else in the line) the right to be put ahead.

4. Again, unless Reuven cannot wait, for whatever reason, the mere fact that his business will be quicker than that of the people ahead of him apparently does not entitle the clerk to attend to him first. However, it is very likely that those ahead of him would forgo their right to be before him if he asks them to.

5. It would seem that in this case, Reuven's hurry is certainly greater than that of the children ahead of him and he may therefore ask the storekeeper to attend to him first.

6. The storekeeper may certainly not see to a valuable customer who is behind others in the line.

`Would You Please Hold My Place In Line . . . ?'

Q. In Eretz Yisroel, it is common practice for the latest arrival at the end of a queue to notify the person in front of him that he has taken the next place, then to leave and attend to other business, returning (hopefully) just in time to take his place at the front of the queue. While he is gone, others arrive and join the queue. They judge how long they will have to wait from the number of people they can see in front of them. Understandably, they are upset and resentful when Mr. Resourceful walks in and goes straight to the front, causing them extra and unexpected delay. Is this sort of "place grabbing" correct?

A. The fairest way of arranging things is to attach a piece of paper to the wall where each person notes his arrival, thus enabling everyone to know how many people are in line before them.

If this is not done, the newcomer to the queue should ask the person in front to inform all later arrivals that he has a place in the line. Then he can go and come back in time. It is small-minded and unfair of those who are waiting to argue that they, who have been there all the while, should not have to let him go straight to the head of the queue. What will they gain by his sitting by idly? Will they have any less time to wait? The gemora (Bovo Kamo 20), teaches us that if Reuven derives benefit from Shimon's property, while causing no loss whatsoever to Shimon, Reuven owes Shimon nothing. (In our case of course, Reuven's benefit is not even derived from Shimon.)

Also of relevance is the rule that, "We enforce people to relinquish middas Sodom (i.e. miserly refusal to convenience another party)" (Bovo Basra 13). Why not show goodwill towards a fellow Jew and, when all have been informed that he has a place in the line, allow him to utilize his time to the utmost, instead of sitting and waiting? (This ruling is also cited in Hizoharu Bemomon Chaveireichem, pg.155.)

If a long wait in line causes a patient weakness or excessive suffering, it is correct to let him go first, as the Meiri writes in Sanhedrin (32), "Whoever we see can better endure the wait, should give way to another [who can endure less], and similarly with a sick person and a healthy person, and the like." However, if one person has pressure of time because, for example, he has to open a work place or collect young children, and it is hard to determine whether he, or the sick person is less able to wait, then whoever arrived first should go first.

HaRav Yechezkel Sarna zt'l, related, "I used to visit a certain doctor, one of the precious citizens of Yerushalayim who, when he saw me waiting for him, would bring me in without waiting in line. Once there was a woman waiting for him and he departed from his usual practice and took her in first. When she came out and I entered, the doctor apologized and said, "That woman is a widow and I don't take any payment from her. If I would have seen you first, she would have thought that I was putting you ahead of her because of the money, and she would have felt that because I don't take money from her, I don't treat her properly . . ."


All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.