EXOD696 Maimonides represents the biblical verse, “To the Gentile you may [tashikh] lend upon interest ” (Deuteronomy 23:21) as a positive injunction; He views the Hebrew tashikh as meaning “You shall” rather than “You may,” so receiving interest from or paying interest to a Gentile is not something left up to one's discretion but rather a mitzvah. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Malveh u Loveh, chapter 5, halakhah 1. We can perhaps understand his view in the light of his interpretation of the Jewish people as a chosen people. Maimonides maintains that the choosing of the Jewish people was a result of the rejection of God by the rest of creation and their adoption of idolatry. It was the failure of mankind from Adam onwards to maintain their relationship with God which led to the isolating of a specific group to carry out that which was originally given to all men. Thus, they were released from the laws of the Torah including the injunctions against receiving or paying interest. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Avoda Zara, chapter 1, halakhah 1-3. There are other commentators, like the Ramban (Nachmanides), who argued, on various grounds, that the taking of interest from Gentiles was permissible, but not obligatory. The Raivad, in his gloss on Maimonides’ Mishnah Torah, avers that we are to understand the Torah as granting permission to lend Gentiles money at interest rather than obliging us to do so. Rav Hiya, in the Talmudic discussion on the ruling in the Mishnah quoted above [Mishnah, Baba Metzia, chapter 5, mishnah 6], felt that one should be engaged in money lending to Gentiles only if there was no other occupation open to one, or only to the extent of providing a livelihood. Talmud Bavli, Baba Metzia 70b-71a. It seems, however, that their disagreement with Maimonides was based not on grounds of morality but rather on other considerations. For instance, in the same Talmudic discussion, Ravina held that moneylending to Gentiles led to general intercourse with them and should be limited in order to prevent Jews from learning from the evil ways of the Gentile world. On the other hand, Rabbeinu Tam, in the eleventh century, argued that since the Jewish-Gentile commerce was no longer limited, neither therefore should the practice of moneylending be limited. Finally, other sources like the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael (commenting on the parallel verse in Exodus [22:24] forbidding interest-bearing loans), argue that acts of chesed enjoined on the Jew, such as the interest-free loan, should be extended to non-Jews--in accordance with the principle in Jewish law that, “for the sake of peace,” Jews act on various principles of righteousness and kindness in their dealing with non-Jews, even when such behavior is not biblically obligatory.