A friend once approached me in a professional capacity and asked me to represent him in some contract disputes. He was a very well renown photographer who had just become Shomer Shabbos. The problem was, he had 6-9 months worth of Shabbos affairs booked.
He walked away from all of them and, in my estimation, close to one hundred thousand dollars!!
He doesn’t know it but, in many ways, that guy’s my hero.
There is a great deal more to the story. My client did everything possible to accomodate his bookings. With halachic guidance, he sold off that section of his business to a non-jew. For other customers, he procured well known substitutes on equal or better footing as he and paid the difference if there was any.
Everybody was happy save one (jewish) customer who got his lawyer involved and after paying them some compensation, they were happy too.
That’s true, I commented and gave my opinion without knowing the entire story. Maybe I spoke too soon. Is there more to the story?
I thought of what Sura said, but then I realized that I don’t know the entire story. For all I know, he could’ve sold some or all of the bookings to a non-Jewish competitor/friend. (Not sure of the halachas in that regard.)
I applaud him for becoming Shomer Shabbos. But, what about all the people he made promises to? I’m just assuming these affairs on Shabbos were weddings. Maybe they weren’t. But, if so, what about the couples who now don’t have a wedding photographer? Instead of just walking away, I would have hoped he would have lined up other photographers for these affairs, whatever they may be. I believe he has been somewhat selfish in this matter.