The Weekly Daf #24 
Bava Metzia 30-36
Week of 13 -19 Av 5754/21-27 July 1994
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions               
   
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Teacher Or Supporter -- Who Comes First?

If you come across objects lost by

o  Your father and 
o  Your Torah teacher 

and are able to only return one of them to its owner...

                                  ...your teacher must be given precedence.

Your father brought you into this world but the man who teaches you Torah 
wisdom brings you to the World to Come.
Bava Metzia 33a

This is true only when the teacher receives no compensation.  But if he is 
not prepared to teach for free and the father provides the salary then the 
father's lost object takes precedence.  In similar fashion, if a benefactor 
or group of benefactors provide the salary which motivates the rabbi to 
teach, then the benefactor's object takes precedence to that of the 
teacher.
Sefer Chassidim Par. 585, cited by Sifsei Cohen (66) on Shulchan Aruch 
Yoreh Deah 242:34
 
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Poverty Is A Poor Excuse

Your own lost object 
       takes precedence 
               over all others...

                               ...even that of your father or your teacher.  

The Torah source for this is the passage (Devarim 15:4) "But there shall be 
no poor among you" which indicates that a person should avoid poverty.  
Nevertheless, warned Rabbi Yehuda in the name of the Sage Rav, one who 
strictly adheres to this selfish avoidance of poverty will eventually 
suffer poverty.

Although you are not obligated to give others precedence over yourself you 
should go beyond the letter of the law except in a case of substantial 
loss.  Otherwise, consistent selfishness will detach you from charity and 
kindness and bring upon you the punishment of poverty.
Bava Metzia 33a
 
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