DEUT702 If one knows that the applicant for the loan has bad traits and is careless with other people's money, and someone lending to this person would stand to lose his money, since there will be nothing left from which to collect, it is better not to lend without taking a pledge, then to lend and to be compelled to keep dunning the debtor for repayment, since the creditor will thereby transgress the prohibition [this verse]: "He shall not exact it of his neighbor." So the ruling is recorded in Chosen Mishpat (Chap. 97, Par. 4, q.v. --"Such a borrower is also called a rasha'").

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DEUT703 (Continued from [[DEUT45]] Deuteronomy 4:2 add LEHRMAN 181) … Did not Hillel re-interpret the laws of the Shemitah [this verse, Leviticus xxv. 1-7)] with its remission of debts by introducing the Prozbul, when he saw the spirit of this humane institution thwarted by cunning and deceit? This document, drawn up by the Beth Din, made it possible for the lender to reclaim the debt from a fraudulent borrower even after the seventh year of Release had passed. When the aim of a Rabbinic command is to enforce Biblical ruling in monetary assessments of damage, or to strengthen the claims of a hired servant, the Rabbis are vested with full authority to read a new meaning into the command, as in the case of the Lex Talionis (Exodus xxi. 22-25. The compensation for an injured limb was an assessment in money, amounting to the difference between a man possessed of all his limbs and one bereft of the part of the body which had been injured. This difference in value was ascertained by the market value of a slave, possessed of that limb, or not.) Even in matters not strictly monetary such Rabbinic power was made manifest. Take the case of the Agunah, the anxious widow, whose remarriage was allowed on the corroboration of one witness only testifying that her lost husband was found dead. Even if that witness be a woman who elsewhere was incompetent in the eyes of the law to act as a witness, her evidence here was considered valid. The plight of such hard examples forced the Rabbis to re-interpret some of the Biblical laws on the grounds of the humanitarian reasons advocated by the Torah. (Yeb. 88a; Gitt. 3a) The Rabbis did not go beyond their constituted authority by their adjustments and correlation of life to Torah. They had as rooted an objection to reform as the most conservative in our ranks at any time. They felt no compunction, however, in adding new regulations and setting aside existing ones if these helped to clarify the Biblical injunctions and to foster the spirit intended, to a generation far removed from the period in which the commandment was first given. (Continued at Deuteronomy 21:3 heifer LEHRMAN 183-4)

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DEUT704 See [[LEV960]] Leviticus 25:11 jubilee LEHRMAN 263-4

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DEUT705 There are many things which may not be condemned by the law, yet are culpable in the eyes of ethical teaching. These are actions which violate the moral standard, though not actually infringing upon the civil law (B. Metz. 108b). As an example, we may quote the law of the Shemitah, the seventh year of Release [this verse and 1-6]. Though the debt is automatically released with the advent of the seventh year, no debtor may take undue advantage of this law. Whenever possible, he should pay his debt before the arrival of the Shemitah year (Shebiit x.9) When the Rabbis suspected prevarication, they organized the device of the Prozbul, a declaration made in court before the execution of a loan to the effect that the law of limitation, by the entrance of the Sabbatical year, shall not apply to the loan to be transacted (Gittin 36a). This was no subterfuge but an honest attempt to make a law of the Torah conform to the spirit which first created it. It was also taught that since the Shemitah was contingent on the Jubilee year, the first was not applicable when the latter was no longer in force. Similarly, the various laws concerning the Erubin were so many honest attempts at keeping in the minds of the people the purpose of the Law. The permission to cook a little extra on the festival-day if it be a week-day in order to have food left over for the morrow, which is a Sabbath, when no cooking was allowed, is called Erev Tavshillin (Bezah 15b). The provision to unite families living in one court into one household by placing a meal in a common-room accessible to all was known as Eruv Hatzerot. These were devices true to the principle of "that he may live by them" (Leviticus xviii. 5). Without these modified interpretations of the Biblical laws, a conscientious fulfillment would be well-nigh impossible in the changing conditions of life on account of the hardships they entailed. (Continued at [[LEV224]] Leviticus 18:5 live LEHRMAN 81-2).

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DEUT706 See [[EXOD549]] Exodus 21:14 neighbor SPERO 126-30

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DEUT707 See [[LEV1062]] Leviticus 25:36 interest OXFORD 46

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DEUT708 Key concept is to teach us not to show them pity. We must feel very distant from them, for thereby we will not be drawn towards their practices or their ideas about any subject.

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DEUT709 At the end of the Shemitah Year release debts owed to you. On the Shemitah Year, in the capital and of Israel, we do not plow, plant or do any other agricultural work (See [[EXOD882]] Exodus 23:11 rest CHINUCH 36). In effect we let go of our mastery over the land. For the same reason, at the close of the Shemitah Year, we relinquish our claim over outstanding debts of loaned money. The mitzvah instills in us the positive traits of graciousness and benevolence, and it teaches us to put all of our trust in Hashem. Having acquired such positive traits, we become worthy to receive His abundant blessings. In addition, the mitzvah helps us to build a strong, iron wall that will keep us away from stealing or coveting anything that belongs to a fellow Jew. We say, “If the Torah tells me that because of a Divine command, I cannot collect my own money that I loaned to a fellow Jew, then certainly I cannot steal or covet what is his, for there I have no legitimate claim whatever.” You will not even think of stealing or coveting.

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DEUT710 See [[DEUT812]] Deuteronomy 15:11 within SINAI3 160

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DEUT711 R. Yehudah said in the name of Rav: "But, there shall not be in you a poor man" -- you are more greatly obligated to yourself than to all others (Bava Metzia 33a)

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