Chayei Sorah: Paying a Shadchan

This week I spoke about the question of paying a shadchan. Specifically, how much do you pay a shadchan when the chassan is from one city which pays higher rates and the kallah is from a city which pays lower rates. The main point to understand is that a shadchan has a din of a hired worker (a poeil) and paying a shadchan is a shailah in Choshen Mishpat.

The Panim Meiros discusses this question and he understands that m'tzad the chassan, the shadchan is working for him in the city of the kallah and m'tzad the kallah, the shadchan is working for her in the city of the chassan. Based on a Yerushalmi in the beginning of Bava Metzia Perek 7, he says you pay based on where the poeil did the work. Therefore, the kalllah would pay based on the rates in the chassan's city and the chassan would pay based on rates in the kallah's city.

However, there is an exception. If the shadchan and chassan live in the town with cheaper rates, the chassan could argue that he hired the shadchan based on their city rates and therefore he pays the cheaper rate.

There is a machlokes haposkim in a case where the chassan from a higher rate city goes to hire the shadchan from a lower rate city to find a shidduch in the higher rate city. According to the Yerushalmi the socheir can argue I went to the lower rate town to higher cheaper work. I don't care that you are working in the higher rate town-to pay higher rates I would have hired a guy from my town.

The Panim Meiros says by a shadchan you don't say that since you davka wanted that shadchan-his work is qualitatively better. Unlike a poeil-a worker is a worker. The Minchas Elazer argues and says you can pay cheaper rates. Even in the yerushalmi you can argue some workers are better. We don't say that and pay cheaper rates.