Monetary, Interpersonal Laws and Din Torah (18)
As stated, the mitzvah of prika and teina, unloading an animal in distress and reloading it in a way it can travel further, applies to helping a motorist who is having car trouble. One is obligated to do Prika for free. For the mitzvah of Teina, when there is no Tzaar Baalei Chaim involved, one is allowed to ask for money.
Prika by a Human Being. Is there a mitzvah of prika when one sees a person struggling under a load? At first glance we would say that if one has to help an animal in distress from a heavy load, certainly he must help a human. However, one could argue that an animal didn’t have a choice or the intelligence to not be under such a load; a human should know better, and maybe there is no obligation to help a careless person? The Mechilta (1) seems to indicate that there is a mitzvah to unload a person, not from the above-mentioned logic, but rather from an extra word in the posuk. This is also made clear in the Rambam (2).
Talmudic Proof. The Rashba (3) rules that there is a mitzvah of prika by a human struggling under a load and proves it from a Gemara (4) that tells about the Tanna, Rav Yishmael ben Rav Yosi, who was walking and met a man who had been carrying a heavy load of wood and unloaded it to rest. The man asked the Tanna to help him reload. The Tanna didn’t want to do it, as explained further, and instead gave the man the value of the wood (likely to relieve himself of the mitzvah). The Gemara asks, isn’t there a rule that if a mitzvah is not befitting the honor of a elderly sage he is exempt? It answers that he did so beyond the letter of the law. Why didn’t they ask a stronger question; there is no such mitzvah by a human, only by an animal? Since the Gemara did not ask that question we see there is a mitzvah to help a human, even though he has more sense than an animal and could have taken better care of himself. The Radvaz (5) argues and tries to disprove this proof from the Gemara, but many Poskim rule like the Rashba.
For Pay or For Free? As stated previously, one must help unload (prika) for free but for reloading (teina), he can demand payment for his time. There are a few variables here. If it is a reasonable load, but he got tired, or did not realize that it was too heavy, there is definitely a mitzvah to help him unload for free, and reload for pay. If he has a load which is clearly overloaded, and was negligent with such a load, R’ Moshe Sternbuch shlita (6) suggests that he can ask to be paid, see there for his reasoning.
(1) מכילתא שמות כג:ב (2) רמב"ם ספר המצות לאוין רע"א (3) תשובת הרשב"א א:רנב,רנו (4) בבא מציעא ל: (5) רדב"ז תשכ"ח (6) תשובות והנהגות ד:שיד