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13 [1] An animal should be given the opportunity to eat whenever it works with produce, whether the produce is still attached to the ground or has been harvested. Similarly, it may partake of produce from the burden it is carrying until it has been unloaded, provided that the person caring for the animal does not take the produce in his hand and feed it. [2] Whoever prevents an animal from eating while it is working should be punished by lashes, as Deuteronomy 25:4 states: "Do not muzzle an ox while threshing."
The prohibition applies to an ox and to all other species of animals and beasts, whether a kosher animal or a non-kosher animal. Similarly, it applies with regard to threshing and all other types of work with produce. The Torah speaks about an ox threshing only to mention the most common instance.
An employer is not liable if he muzzles a worker. He is, however, liable for muzzling an animal. This applies whether he muzzles the animal while he is working with it or muzzles it beforehand and works with it while muzzled. He is liable even if he "muzzles it" with his mouth.
When a person rents an animal, muzzles it and then threshes with it, he receives lashes and must pay the owners the value of four *kabbin* of grain for a cow, and three *kabbin* for a donkey. Although generally a person does not receive both lashes and a financial penalty for the same transgression, an exception is made in this instance, because the renter was obligated to provide the animal with its sustenance from the time he pulled it after him, and he is not liable for lashes until he threshes with the animal while muzzled. [3] When a Jew threshes with a cow belonging to a gentile, he is subject to violating the prohibition against muzzling. When, by contrast, a gentile threshes with an ox belonging to Jew, he is not subject to violating this prohibition.
If a Jew tells a gentile: "Muzzle my ox and thresh with it," a thorn becomes lodged in the ox's mouth and he threshes with it so it does not eat, he places a lion outside the threshing floor, he places the animal's son outside the threshing floor, he does not provide the animal with drink when it is thirsty, or spreads a hide over the grain so that it will not eat - all of these and similar acts are forbidden, but the person does not receive lashes.
When the produce with which the animal is working is bad for its digestion and will damage the animal's health or when the animal is sick and eating will cause it to become diarrheic, it is permitted to prevent the animal from eating. The rationale is that the Torah enacted this prohibition so that the animal would benefit, and in such an instance it does not benefit. [4] When a priest is threshing grain that is *terumah* or grain that is definitely *terumat ma'aser* with a cow that belongs to an Israelite, he is not subject to violating the prohibition against muzzling them.
This law also applies when cows thresh grain that is *ma'aser sheni* and when cows veer from the path. Nevertheless, because of the impression that might be created, when the cows are threshing grain that is *terumah* or *ma'aser sheni* the worker should bring that type of grain and place it in the food sack hanging below their mouths. [5] When a person muzzles a cow that is threshing produce that is *ma'aser sheni* which is *demai terumat ma'aser* which is *demai* or produce that grew from *terumah* he violates the prohibition against muzzling the animal. [6] The owner of an ox is permitted to make his animal hungry and aggrieve it so that it will eat a large quantity of the grain that it is threshing. Conversely, the renter of the ox may feed it hay so that it will not eat a large quantity of the grain that it is threshing.
Similarly, an employer may provide his workers with wine so that they will not eat many grapes. Conversely, the workers may dip their bread in brine so they will eat many grapes.
A worker may not, however, perform work at night and then hire himself out during the day, or work with his ox in the evening and then rent it out in the morning. Similarly, he should not starve and aggrieve himself and give his food to his sons, because this leads to stealing from the work due his employer, for his energy will be sapped and his thinking unclear, and he will not be able to perform his work robustly. [7] Just as the employer is warned not to steal the wage of the poor person or to withhold it from him, the poor person is forewarned not to steal from the work due his employer and neglect his work slightly here and there, spending the entire day in deceit.
Instead, he is obligated to be precise with regard to his time. The importance of such preciseness is indicated by our Sages' ruling that workers should not recite the fourth blessing of grace, so as not to neglect their work.
Similarly, a worker is obligated to work with all his strength, for Jacob the righteous man said Genesis 31:7: "I served your father with all my strength." Therefore, he was granted a reward even in this world, as indicated by *ibid.* 30:43: "And the man became prodigiously wealthy."
Blessed be God who grants assistance.
Version: Mishneh Torah, trans. by Eliyahu Touger. Jerusalem, Moznaim Pub. c1986-c2007
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001020101/NLI
License: CC-BY-NC