EXOD715 R. Yosef taught: "If money you lend My people, the poor man with you": "My people" and gentiles -- "My people" come first [for the granting of a loan]; a poor man and a rich man -- the poor man comes first; your poor [i.e., those of your family] and the poor of your city -- your poor come first; the poor of your city and the poor of a different city -- the poor of your city come first (Bava Metzia 71a).

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EXOD716 If someone asks us for money or information, we should treat him as we would want someone else to treat us. The words "the poor that are with you," teach that you should look upon yourself as though you were the poor one. (Rashi). If you would need to borrow money from someone, you would dislike it if he acted condescendingly toward you. The Torah tells us to put ourselves in the other person's place and act toward him as we would want him to act toward us.. Rabbi Chayim Shmuelevitz frequently says that the same principle applies to all instances when someone needs to consult another person. If you needed to ask someone for information on any matter, whether Torah knowledge or practical advice, you would want him to act kindly toward you. Act the same way toward others. Don't act in a superior manner to someone who asks you for information. Patiently and humbly answer him to the best of your knowledge. Rabbi Chayim Mordechai Katz, the late Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, used to admonish those students who were reluctant to answer the questions of others. They felt that it was a waste of their time to interrupt their own studies to explain a difficult passage to others. But the Rosh Hayeshiva said that this attitude is improper. If you are able to teach others Torah, you are obligated to do so.

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EXOD717 A lender is forbidden to pressure a borrower who is unable to repay a loan. [author lists seven aspects of this prohibition - AJL]. Rabbi Chayim Shmuelevitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir in Jerusalem, said: "We find that both a lender and the borrower have their obligations. The lender must not pressure the borrower and the borrower must pay back on time. If each one would do everything possible to fulfill his own obligation, all would be well. Troubles begin when someone forgets about his own obligation and just worries about the other person fulfilling his obligation."

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EXOD718 Indeed, the amount of money owned by a person in excess of his needs is a trust fund deposited by the Master of the Universe, Who appointed him to administer it, to take pity on the unfortunate and to extend favors to the needy. On [this verse], R. Moshe Alshech has commented: "This is comparable to a person who has deeded all his money to one of his sons. [The law presumes that] he only intended to appoint this son a trustee, since it is reasonable to assume that he would not cut off the rest without anything. Hence the share of each of the other sons is held to be a trust fund kept with him. So in our case. God made one person rich. Is it possible to assume that he has left the rest in penury? Are they not his sons as well? God, then, appointed the rich person a trustee to support the poor, and their share with him exceeds his own portion." This is what the verse (Ibid), "the poor that is with you," conveys: Whatever the poor really needs belongs to him. It is deposited with you on his behalf, therefore you must not withhold it from him.

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EXOD719 One should be aware not to subject the borrower to any indignity, Heaven forbid, but lend to him cheerfully. (See above, chapter 9, where we have explained the matter thoroughly.) He should consider himself. Suppose he wanted to obtain a favor from his neighbor. How ardently would he wish his neighbor to receive him graciously. He should act the same way towards his neighbor. So Rashi has commented on [this verse]: "If you lend money to My people, to the poor that is with you, you shall not treat him disrespectfully when lending him money, since he is "My people." "The poor that is with you"--look at yourself as if you were the poor man.

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EXOD721 Collecting the money owed to him will allow the giver to lend it out again, as the Torah has intimated by [this verse]: "If you take a pledge…" following immediately after "If you lend money to my people…", the implication being, according to the Mechilta (Ibid.) that one should first give the loan and then take a pledge. (The pledge here referred to can only be exacted with the permission of the Beth Din. As pointed out in the Gemara [Bava Metzia 113b], to take a pledge without the authorization of the Beth Din is to transgress the prohibition [Deuteronomy 24:10]: "You shall not go into his house to fetch the pledge." Even to seize a pledge from the debtor in the street is forbidden, as is laid down in Choshen Mishpat, Chap. 97 [q.v.].) This refutes the illusory belief that it would be better for the lender to allow the money not to be repaid, since then he would not be obliged to bother lending it out again. The Torah teaches us proper conduct. It is better to keep claiming the money till it is recovered, and then to lend it out once more.

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EXOD720 ... certain assets can serve as pledges only temporarily, while others are completely beyond the reach of the creditor. So we find the Talmudic injunction that a craftsman’s solitary set of tools, used as a pledge, had to be returned to him each morning. Talmud Bavli, Baba Metzia 113a, b. This injunction was based on the biblical verse (Deuteronomy 24:6) forbidding the taking of a millstone as security for a loan. Since millstones are essential for the crushing or grinding of wheat and barley into flour, their possession by the creditor, would mean that the debtor's family would be unable to eat. A similar biblical injunction (Exodus 22:25-26) is explained by Rashi as enjoining the taking of basic necessities such as a pillow or a cloak. It was understood by halachic authorities throughout the ages as preventing the use of all essential items as pledges. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Malveh u Loveh, chapter 3, halakhot 5-6. See also Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah, section 96, subsections 6-18. The protection afforded by the Torah to the debtor did not only extend to the goods or articles which could properly serve as security for the loan; his privacy, too, was protected. Thus, creditors are not allowed to enter a debtor's house without his permission.

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EXOD722 See [[EXOD685]] Exodus 22:24 act TZADIK 155

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EXOD723 See [[EXOD1030]] Exodus 34:6 compassion BLOCH 57-8

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EXOD724 Now, the feeling of compassion is alone sufficient to impel a man to choose good and to scorn evil. For he who feels the pain of others as if it were his own, will not only refrain from hurting others, but he will strive to favor all people and to lighten their burdens. His compassion will also lead him to love fairness and justice. For when I see two men, equally unknown to me, I have compassion equally for both of them, therefore, I shall not incline the scales of judgment to favor one against the other, but shall seek to equalize their lot. And if I see one robbing his fellow man, I am filled with the desire to compel the violator to restore his loot to his victim. Therefore, all effective moral education should consist in the cultivation and refinement of the natural feelings of compassion, either by way of verbal instruction or by way of actual practice. By means of training a child can be turned either into a ruthless and callous man, or into a righteous, gentle, honest and faithful person. Now, the Torah which Moses put before the children of Israel guides us into the path of gentleness and kindness, by its commands concerning the obligatory gifts to the poor, the strangers, the orphans and the widows. [leket--let him gather the fallen stalks, after the harvesters; shikha-whatever was forgotten in the fields belonged to the poor; peah-one corner of the field was to be left for them.] So, too, the Torah prohibited the charging of interest on loans, enjoining the lender from entering the house of the borrower and from taking the garments of the poor or that which they needed for their livelihood. If you do take a blanket of the debtor, you must return it to him before the setting of the sun. "For it is his only garment, the covering of the skin, with what will he sleep?" [this verse].

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