Unclaimed Payment for Services

Question

I give a regular shiur on Mishlei to women every Shabbos in Har Nof. We recently moved the shiur to a different location and I decided to put up signs advertising this new venue. I called up the local sign poster and he did a wonderful job putting up signs in every building in Har Nof. Afterwards, I called him up to pay the money I owed him, and he said he would come and pick it up. I waited a month and called him again, but he has still not picked up the money. Am I obligated to continue calling him or to bring the money to him myself?

Thank you.

Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis 

Rav Goldberg 

The Ketzos Hachoshen (9:1) discusses a similar issue. There was a person who accepted shochad, a bribe. The halacha in that case was that even though the bribe was given willingly, since the receiver was forbidden to receive a bribe, the person who gave the shochad is allowed to take his money back. What happens if he does not come to pick it up?

The Ketzos writes that there are two types of mechilah. There is a mechilah on the entire amount of a debt. When this takes place, the debt is erased completely and the person owed money no longer has a right to collect it.

There is a second type of mechilah, which is a mechilah on the collection. When a worker does not pick up the money he is owed, this does not show that he was mochel the entire chov. Rather, this is the second type of mechilah on the collection. Effectively, this means that you still owe him the money, but you are not obligated to run after him any more to urge him to collect his money.