Changing Drivers

Question

I teach once a week on a moshav in Eretz Yisroel and a taxi is sent to take me there. For the past few years, I have traveled in a taxi with one set driver. Currently, one of my students is in need of work and offered to take me to the moshav, and I would pay him the money I pay the current taxi driver. However, when I suggested this to the taxi driver, he got very upset. Am I obligated to maintain my original driver?

Goldberg

The halacha is that a po’el, a worker, is allowed to back out of his job in the middle, because one Jew is only meant to be a slave to Hashem and not to another Jew. However, a boss is not allowed to fire his worker in the middle of a job.

The answer to your question depends on what is accepted among taxi drivers. If when they have a set route, it is accepted that one does not change drivers unless there is a problem with their service, then you are not allowed to change.

From what I have clarified among drivers, there is no such policy and therefore it is permitted to change. However, you should take the driver’s feelings into consideration, such as if this will hurt him very much, and make your decision based on all of these factors.