EXOD702 (Continued from [[DEUT1547]] Deuteronomy 28:47 serve AHAVCH 104). Suppose a certain person did not want to serve God joyfully. He did not extend the kindness to his fellow Jew that befitted his means and through which he would have fulfilled the positive Torah commandment [this verse]: "When you lend money…" Had he behaved properly his money would have eventually come back to him. Now he will, inevitably, lose many times that sum to strangers and he will be powerless to recover it from them. Even if a person does give some charity and performs some chesed with his money, but not in accordance with his means, then his money may become forfeited as a result. A curse will become attached to it. If others engage in a business venture with him, their capital will be lost because of him. (See Kethuvoth 66b/67a concerning the dwindling of Nakdimon ben Gurion's daughter's wealth).

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EXOD705 I know that the reader will think to himself: "Why should I set a sum aside like the Free Loan Societies in each city, and then hand out small loans? It is better for me to lend a large, single sum which I can afford, as a single loan, to a respectable person, for after all gemiluth chesed is a mitzvah whether the loan is made to the poor or the rich." This is a fallacy. Firstly, it is a greater mitzvah to lend to the poor. Chazal have explained [this verse]: "When you lend money to any of My people, to the poor with you…" to imply that if there are rich and poor, the poor take precedence (Bava Metzia 71a). Now where a person could not allocate more than a modest sum out of his capital, then if he were to loan it to the rich, there would remain nothing for him to loan to the poor. Scripture has taught that (Proverbs 2:5): "If you seek her as silver… then shall you understand the fear of God." In business, if one engages in a number of small transactions involving a certain amount, the total profit will be larger than if the whole amount would be used in a single transaction. So too in our context, when the person gives a number of loans, each for a small amount as is customary, he can perform hundreds of positive mitzvoth of the Torah in the course of one year. This would not be so if he lent a single large sum to one individual. In the same period, he might only perform a few mitzvoth. Similarly, the Tanna (Pirkei Avoth 3:15) has laid down that "the world is judged by grace, yet all is in accord with the majority of deeds" (i.e. the world is judged according to which number of deeds is the larger, if the good, then the judged shall emerge victorious from their trial).

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EXOD712 See [[EXOD296]] Exodus 18:20 way AHAVCH 26

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EXOD710 Maimonides lists seven biblical Commandments enjoining the giving of charity (Sefer HaMitzvot 120-124, 130, 197). These multiple laws attest to the great importance attached to charity in Judaism and also to the need for overcoming a well-entrenched natural reluctance to part with one's hard-earned money. Of the seven commandments, six are obligatory levies raised from the produce of the soil. Interestingly, the single voluntary charity specified in the Bible is not an outright gift of money but a loan [this verse]. Judaism regards help extended to the poor with a view toward enabling them to become self-supporting as the most laudable form of charity (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 10:7). The Book of Psalms brackets making an interest-free loan with giving alms as an act whose merit shall endure forever (112:5, 9). (Continued at [[LEV1031]] Leviticus 25:35 kinsman BLOCH 51-2)

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EXOD707 It is a positive commandment to lend money to the poor of Jewry [this verse], and this is a duty. This mitzvah is greater than charity, and more obligatory. The Torah disapproves severely of anyone who refuses to lend to a poor person, since it says, and your eye may be evil against your needy brother… and it will be a sin for you (D'varim 15:9).

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EXOD709 Lend money to the poor according to their needs, in order to assist them and ease their suffering. This is a greater mitzvah then giving tzedakah, for someone who has not yet received tzedakah is more embarrassed to accept it than someone who has accepted it in the past. Quite possibly, a small monetary loan will help the poor person to avoid having to accept tzedakah. Hashem wants us, His creations, to become accustomed to behaving with mercy and kindness towards one another. If we cultivate these traits we become worthy of His blessings and His ever-present desire to bestow good upon us will be fulfilled. Hashem certainly possesses ample wherewithal to supply all the world's poor with their every need, but out of His great kindness He allows us His creatures, to act as His messengers and thereby merit His abundant blessings. Another reason for the mitzvah is as follows: Hashem wants the poor person to receive his livelihood from other human beings so that he suffers embarrassment, which atones for his sins--as does his having to suffice with a meager livelihood. Our Sages give us many warnings regarding this mitzvah. They say that if someone has money and refrains from lending it to the needy, he is disdained by Heaven. Hashem pushes him away, for He regards him as an abomination, and the revulsion that he causes is akin to that caused by idle worship. On the other hand, he who grabs hold of this mitzvah is beloved and pleasing to Hashem, so He shows mercy towards him and showers him with many blessings.

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EXOD711 Rabbi Yosef taught, “If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, do not act as a creditor toward them” (Exodus 22:24). In the case of a Jew and a non-Jew, the Jew takes precedence; a poor person and a wealthy person, the poor person takes precedence; a poor person of your own city and a poor person of another city, the poor person of your city takes precedence. Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzi’a 71a

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EXOD704 Charity is not only a gift of touched sympathy; it is also a duty. It behooves the fortunate to rescue the unfortunate from their plight; for what they possess was given to them for this purpose. "The poor are God's people", says the Tanhuma; "does it not say 'If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee?' [this verse]. Do not forget that 'There is a wheel which rotates in this world', and that the turn of the wheel which made you rich one day may make you poor another."

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EXOD713 We are obligated to lend money. It is an obligatory act, not merely a charitable act, to lend money. The reason the Torah uses the word if is because of the latter part of the verse. Only when you lend money are you are forbidden to be a demanding creditor. A person who borrows money spends it and if he is not able to pay back when asked, you must not press him. If, however, you lend someone an object, that object remains in his possession and you are therefore permitted to demand its return. (Chofetz Chayim in Nesiv Hachesed 1:2). When you lend someone money, you gain more from your act of kindness than the borrower does. The borrower is helped only in this world, while you gain reward in the world to come. (Kli Yokor on this verse). [The author lists and explains thirteen laws regarding the obligation to lend money]. There is an old Jewish custom of establishing gmachs, or free loan societies. People donate money to the society which lends money without interest to anyone requesting a loan. Today in Jerusalem there are hundreds of such institutions. The larger ones are almost like banks, except that they are non-profit organizations and do not charge for their service. They lend out money for various lengths of time, the average being a year. The recipient of the money gives twelve post-dated checks payable the first of each month for the next year, and receives the amount of money he needs in one lump sum. These free loan societies are really lifesavers to many people who need money in a hurry. Every community should form at least one such society.

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EXOD701 ... if one sees a person ask his friend to lend him money (which is a positive Torah commandment, derived from the pasuk: אִם־כֶּ֣סֶף תַּלְוֶ֣ה, “When you lend money” (Shemos 22:24), as the Rambam explains in Sefer Hamitzvos) or to do a different favor for him, and the friend declined to help him; or if one sees someone violate a negative commandment in the area of bein adam l’chaveiro, such as taking revenge or bearing a grudge (according to the Gemara's explanation in Yoma [23a] of what is included in the prohibitions of taking revenge and bearing a grudge) and disparages that person before others by telling them what he witnessed, then his words are considered lashon hara. Since the speaker was not harmed by this person (and informing others of the incident will not accomplish anything constructive on behalf of the affected party), it is considered lashon hara ro reveal this negative information to others. All this applies even if one witnessed the incident himself, and it was clear to him that the other person could have done the favor for his friend but declined to do so because of his mean-spiritedness.... even if someone else was denied the favor, and the speaker's sole intent in speaking about the other person is in order to uphold the truth, it is still forbidden. If the speaker himself was the one who was denied the favor, then it is forbidden all the more for him to disparage his fellow over this. If he violates this halakhah, not only does he transgress the prohibition of lashon hara, but he also transgresses the negative commandment of לֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙, “Do not bear a grudge” (Vayikra 19:18). If his intention in disparaging the other person is to take revenge by publicizing his mean-spiritedness, then he violates the negative commandment of לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם, “Do not take revenge” (ibid), aside from violating the prohibition of lashon hara.

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