DEUT734 Above all, the one refusing aid transgresses the specific commandment of the Torah regarding loans themselves, the Scriptural passage: "If you will lend money to My people, the poor that is with you." [Exodus 22:24- AJL] Chazal have it by tradition that this "if" does not denote an option, but a definite obligation, one we have been commanded to obey--to lend money to our brothers in their time of need. The commandment is repeated in Re-eh [this verse]: "You shall surely lend to him." This applies to loans. (The Torah uses the word "if" since this is the condition upon which the end of the sentence depends, "You shall not be to him a creditor"--since this injunction only applies when the borrower is Jewish and not a Gentile.