We continue with the halachot (laws) of the maid in the house. The last halacha (law) we discussed was that, as long as the maid does it for her own benefit, it would be allowed, like turning on the light when you ask her to bring you a bottle of wine, for example. If you ask for a specific one, she has to look for it. Even if it benefits you, since she turns on the light for herself, it is therefore mutar (allowed). And you're even allowed to use that light because the melacha (forbidden labor) was already done.
We said the same thing about the dishwasher, for example. She uses the dishwasher because she's lazy; she doesn't want to do it by hand, so it's for her benefit. What if it helps you too because maybe you like the result? A dishwasher doesn't always do that, but let's say it helps produce a better result. For example, let's say you ask her to wash dishes, and she says, “Okay, I'm going to wash dishes, but I'm going to turn on the hot water.” We cannot turn on the hot water because that involves the melacha of bishul (cooking), but she will do it. For whom does she do it? A little bit for both, let's say. She does it for you because the result is better if the plates are washed with hot water than with cold water. But she also does it for herself because it's easier on her hands to use hot water than cold water. The fact that she does it for her own benefit means you could also have hana'ah (benefit) from that.
It goes a little bit further. From this perspective, there is even another halacha that helps with the leniency in this particular case of using hot water instead of cold water. Why? The fact that she could have done it without any melacha is the best thing about this situation. It's no longer about who she did it for. Forget about that. In the case of the light, there was no way to find the wine without turning on the light, so we had to say, “Okay, but she does it for herself.” Although it's part of her job, she does it for herself to find it. But here, in this case, it's even better. She could have washed the dishes with cold water. It's not like it's a better result. It would take longer to remove the grease and the food. Hot water melts certain things. But could she do it with a sponge and everything using cold water? Of course she could. Would the result be the same? Probably, more or less the same result. It would be a clean plate. So the fact that there is a way to do it beheter (in a permitted way), she can now do it be'issur (in a prohibited way), because for you it's the same thing.
And from there you learn another halacha, for example. Let's say you ask this lady to clean the carpet. She's cleaning the carpet. There are two ways to clean it. She could use a broom, or she could use a vacuum. If she does it with a broom, it's going to take a long time and require a lot of effort. If she does it with a vacuum, it's a little quicker and requires much less effort. Again, there are two sevarot (considerations) there. One is that she's doing it for her own benefit, because it's going to be easier for her, much less difficult than if she does it by hand. Number two, she could have done it in a heter way, in a way that would be mutar, by using a broom. She chose to use the vacuum instead? Good, no problem. The fact that it was mutar—there was a way to do it mutar using a broom—means that in this case there would be no problem.
So there are two points to consider. Is it for her benefit or my benefit? You don't have to have both; you have one of the two. The other point is: would it be possible to get the same result without doing a melacha? Yes or no? If you answer both these questions, you now know how to calculate. If those answers are mutar, then you have a way. But you have to go even if she does melacha...