Pruzbul
Rabbi Alfred S. Cohen
Rabbi Alfred S. Cohen
Sources And Reasons
In the Torah, we find the command to observe a Sabbatical Year, the shemita (Devarim 15:1-11). There are two aspects of this mitzvah: the land is not to be worked and all debts are cancelled. The latter feature is not as well known as the imperative to let the fields lie fallow. Moreover, unlike the agricultural aspect of shemita, the directive cancelling all debts between Jews applies not only in Eretz Yisrael, but all over the world..1 Wherever a Jew owes another Jew money, and the debt is due, that debt is cancelled by the shemita year (except under specific conditions which will be explicated later).2 Thus, this aspect of shemita directly affects many more people than do the agricultural laws; additionally, in modern society where so many undertakings are financed by loans which extend for a number of years, the biblical fiat cancelling all debts has far-reaching consequences.The Torah was not oblivious to the difficulties attendant upon not being able to collect monies owed, and therefore specifically warns about trying to avoid getting "stuck" with an unpaid loan by the simple expedient of not lending money close to shemita time, for fear that it will not get paid back in time:
|
Be very careful lest there be in your heart an evil thing,
saying,"The seventh year is approaching, the Sabbatical
Year," [lest] your eye be bad towards your brother [who
is] poor, and you will not lend to him -- and this will be a
sin for you. (Devarim 15:9)
|
|
And we should establish in our hearts great trust and
confidence in the Lord, Blessed be He. Furthermore, from
this [trust] there will arise a strong fence and a barrier of
iron, to make [us] be distanced from theft and from avarice
for that which belongs to one's fellow man, because in our
hearts we will understand, by a logical reasoning [kal
vechomer], that if even in a case where a person has
loaned his own money, the Torah tells him he must leave
it in the hands of the borrower when the shemita year
comes, how much more so must one not steal or covet that
which belongs to someone else.
|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Notes
DISCLAIMER
|
 Page 1 of 5 |
|