From: Yeshivat Har Etzion Office <office@etzion.org.il>
To: yhe-test@etzion.org.il
Subject: KITZUR -81: Chapters 179-180

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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YHE-KITZUR: MEANING IN MITZVOT
By Rav Asher Meir

CHAPTERS 179-180

CHAPTER 179 - LAWS OF LOANS

The Torah specifically commands us to help our
fellow man with free loans:

"If you lend money to my people, to the poor among
you, don't be like a creditor to him, don't impose
interest on him. If you should pawn your fellow's
garment, return it to him by nightfall" (Shemot
22:24-25.)

We might think that helping a needy person with
charity would be an even greater kindness, but our
tradition clearly indicates the opposite. Giving a loan
is considered a greater mitzva than giving charity, so
much so that the Hebrew word for a free loan is a
"gemach" - an acronym for "gemilut chasadim," meaning
"granting kindness." This linguistic identity points to
a cultural reality, that giving a loan is the basic act
of mutual aid in Judaism.

This special importance is not solely because the
lender gains no benefit from the loan. In fact, making a
business partnership with a needy person, where there is
an expectation of profit, is considered on an equal level
with a loan. "The greatest level of charity, with
nothing higher, is to strengthen the hand of a weakened
Jew, giving him a present or a loan or starting a
partnership, or giving him work" (SA YD 249:6. While a
present is also mentioned, the intention is not a handout
but a regular present like those given among equals,
where there is an expectation of reciprocation.)

FAITH IN OUR FELLOW MAN

One reason we can identify why a loan is even more
beneficial than a handout is that it indicates that the
lender has faith in the borrower. In this way it
provides not only material but also moral support.

This faith has two aspects. On the most basic
level, giving a loan shows faith that the borrower is an
honest person who won't disappear after receiving the
money. But a loan also shows the lender's faith that the
borrower is a SUCCESSFUL person - one who, though he has
fallen on hard times, is sure to recoup his losses and
find himself earning a respectable income. Often the
monetary difficulties caused by financial setbacks are
the least of one's problems. A few bad seasons in
business or losing a job can cause a person to become
discouraged about the future and lose hope. The
encouragement provided by the lender's faith in the
borrower may be even more important to the needy person
than the money itself.

A FELLOW, NOT A SLAVE

This aspect of encouragement is particularly evident
in the various limitations on collecting a loan. The
passage we cited states, "Don't act like a creditor"
towards the borrower, enjoining one not to hound him for
repayment if you know he can't pay (Rashi.) Other
limitations on collection include the rules which prevent
collecting from possessions which are essential to the
borrower's livelihood, including the subsequent verse
which indicates that we may not take the borrower's
garment as a pledge unless we return it when he is in
need of it.

Indeed, in ancient times the borrower himself, or
his family members, were themselves pledged to a loan and
could be enslaved if a loan was not repaid (Melakhim II
4:1), and even today debtors may be imprisoned for
failing to repay a loan.

Such drastic collection measures contradict the idea
of encouraging the downtrodden in two ways. Firstly, if
the loan has the effect of subjugating and demeaning the
borrower, it will not be very successful in providing him
with moral support.

Furthermore, if the lender has ironclad guarantees
that he will get his money back, then the loan is not
much of a vote of confidence. But since the lender is
limited in his ability to seize assets and can't "lien"
the borrower himself, his loan shows his confidence in
the borrower's ability to improve his financial
situation.

Of course the halakha demands that the borrower do
his best to be worthy of this confidence, and not make
unnecessary expenditures or unjustified gifts that would
prevent the lender from recouping his investment. Of
such a borrower Scripture states, "It is a wicked
borrower who doesn't repay" (Tehillim 37:21.)

FAITH IN THE CREATOR

This humanistic theme in lending is matched by a
religious one. The Talmud likens collecting improper
interest on a loan to denying the Torah (BM 75b);
conversely, the Midrash states that lending money to the
needy is comparable to fulfilling all of the mitzvot!
(Shemot Rabba on Shemot 22:24 p. 4.)

One idea behind these statements is that all of our
possessions, and even our very lives, can be considered a
loan from the Creator. While we enjoy our wealth in this
world, in the end we have to leave our wealth to others,
even as we give up our souls to God. By being generous
and forbearing with our possessions during our lifetimes,
we demonstrate that our attachment to them is not
excessive. We recognize that "our" money is not really
ours but only a deposit or trust entrusted us by God, in
order to carry out His will.

The Midrash likens someone who fails to use his
money to alleviate suffering to one who takes from the
treasury of a king and uses it to oppress his very own
subjects. Likewise, all of our money is from God, as the
Scripture states (Chagai 2:8), "Mine is the silver and
Mine is the gold" (Shemot Rabba on 22:24, p.15.)

Loans exemplify this faith even more than charity
because they particularly demonstrate the concept of
stewardship. A person whose funds are his own is free to
dispose of them any way he likes; but the administrator
of a fund has a responsibility to maintain the endowment.
Giving a loan with the expectation of getting the money
back shows our desire to continue administrating this
deposit from God in accordance with His directives.

LENDING TO GOD

By the same token, God has a particular reason to
give a person wealth if He knows that the person will use
it according to His will. The Midrash states that King
Solomon prayed, "If You see a person who acts aptly with
his wealth, give him [more]," as it is written (Divrei
HaYamim II 6:30), "Give to each person according to his
ways, for You know his heart" (Shemot Rabba p. 5.) The
book of Mishlei (19:17) states that one who helps the
poor "lends to God," implying that the lender is sure to
be repaid.

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

A related theme mentioned in the Midrash is that
giving loans is a way of acknowledging that we ourselves
are subject to God's providence. A person who trusts in
his own might and ability is not worried that he may lose
his wealth; but one who recognizes that it is God who
"gives strength to act mightily" (Devarim 8:18) is aware
that the next time around he may be the one needing a
loan. "For it is a revolving wheel in the world; the one
who is rich today may not be rich tomorrow, and the one
who is poor today may not be poor tomorrow" (Shemot Rabba
p. 3.)

CHAPTER 180 - RELEASE OF DEBTS

We explained in the previous chapter that the
Halakha is insistent that the debtor does his best to pay
off his creditors. In seeming contradiction to this
emphasis, the Torah mandates a release of debts once in
seven years, at the end of the Sabbatical year. This
includes the commandment to release debts when this year
passes, the commandment to abstain from collecting these
debts (Devarim 15:1-3), and at the same time a warning
NOT to refrain from lending money in anticipation of the
release (Devarim 15:9-11.)

So it seems a bit surprising that despite this stern
warning, our Sages indicated that it is commendable for
the borrower to return the money regardless. First it is
necessary for the lender to affirm that he is
wholeheartedly releasing the debt; only afterwards is it
praiseworthy for the borrower to say that "even so," he
wants to return the money (Mishna Shevi'it 10:8-9.)

It seems even more surprising that the Sages
themselves provided a way to evade the release
altogether, through the mechanism of the prozbol, a
special conveyance whose effect is to temporarily
transfer one's debts to the Beit Din, which is not
obligated in the sabbatical release (Mishna Shevi'10:3-
7.)

According to Rav Kook, we can begin to understand
these halakhot by recognizing that every loan has both a
monetary and a personal aspect. From the monetary side
of things, it is certainly fair and proper for the
borrower to return the money that he borrowed. This is
the principle that applies to transactions between Jews
and non-Jews - the lender gave the money, so the borrower
must return it.

However, the Torah reminds us that behind this
monetary inequality there is a profound personal
inequality. The borrower is simultaneously dependent on
the lender as well as subordinated to him through a
personal lien (shi'abud haguf), creating a type of
"slavery" in miniature. The Scriptures tell us "The rich
man rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of
the lender" (Mishlei 22:7.)

The analogy between debt and slavery helps us
understand the release of debts in the Shemitta year.
Just as a Jewish slave is released from work in the
seventh year, so a Jewish borrower is released at the end
of the seven-year Shemitta cycle. Indeed, these
commandments appear in consecutive passages in the Torah
(Devarim 15:1-18).

(As we pointed out in chapter 65, it also helps us
understand the prohibition against charging a fellow Jew
interest. Just as a Jewish slave may not be excessively
subjugated, so a Jewish borrower may not be charged
interest. These commandments too appear in consecutive
passages in the Torah, Vayikra 25:35-42).

While the halakha certainly affirms the ideal of fairness
in monetary transactions, this principle can not be
rigidly upheld when it conflicts with the ideal of
freedom. God tells us "For the children of Israel are
slaves to Me," and our Sages inferred: "slaves to Me, and
not servants to servants," i.e. other human beings
(Kiddushin 22b.) So, once in seven years, debts are
released.

It is true that when the monetary and human aspects
of the loan conflict, the human aspect must dominate.
However, the ideal would be to avoid the conflict
altogether. One way that this can occur is for the
lender to assert that he wholeheartedly releases the
debtor from his obligation. Then the aspect of personal
subjugation is removed; only the aspect of monetary
fairness remains, so it is commendable in such a case to
return the money. (Based on Rav Kook's Ein Ayah on
chapter 10 of Shevi'it.)

The same objective is achieved by transferring the
debts to the Beit Din through the prozbol. While it is
abhorrent for one individual to be subordinate to
another, it is understood that all are subordinate to the
authority of the Beit Din. So the prozbol also succeeds
in removing the dimension of personal subjugation from
the loan, making it possible for the loan to be collected
even after Shemitta.

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