Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon were being led out to their execution. Rabbi Shimon turned to Rabbi Yishmael and said: "Rebbi, my heart is faint, for I do not know why I am going to be killed."
Rabbi Yishmael asked him a piercing question: "Did anyone ever come to you for judgment or a legal ruling, and you kept him waiting until you had finished your cup, or taken your sandal, or donned your garment?"
The implication was devastating. Even a momentary delay — the time it takes to finish a drink, to put on a shoe, to adjust a garment — counts as affliction when someone is waiting for justice. Rabbi Yishmael was not accusing Rabbi Shimon of gross negligence or corruption. He was suggesting that the most minor, seemingly innocent delays in attending to people's needs could constitute the "affliction" the Torah prohibits.
The proof text is (Exodus 22:22): "If afflict you afflict" — the doubling of the verb "afflict" indicates that both greater and lesser forms of affliction are included. You do not need to cause severe harm to violate this commandment. Making someone wait an extra minute while you attend to your own comfort is enough.
This story transforms the commandment against affliction from a prohibition against obvious cruelty into a standard of immediate, attentive responsiveness. Even a rabbi walking to his death found in this law a searching examination of conscience.