Parshas Emor 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Monetary, Interpersonal Laws and Din Torah (68)
Lender Speaking to the Arev. The Sefer Chasidim (1) writes that if one wants to lend to Reuven, and Shimon will be the guarantor, he should not ask Shimon in front of Reuven if he wants to be a guarantor. He might be embarrassed and say yes, even though he really doesn’t want to do it. Also, if he says no, it might cause Reuven to dislike Shimon. He should rather ask Shimon privately. If he did ask in front of Reven (the lovah) and Shimon said yes and the loan happened, Shimon is obligated (2).
Backing Out of an Obligation. Even though one agreed to be an Arev, he can back out if the loan did not yet take place (3). Even if he made some kinyan and even if he signed a document to be an Arev, he can still back out (4). However, he must make sure that the lender knows about him backing out, because once the lender gives out money relying on the Arev, the monetary obligation takes effect. If the borrower is a poor person, it would seem that even though the monetary obligation has not yet happened, there is still a serious problem of a neder to tzedakah. This is similar to what the Chafetz Chaim (5) rules that if one says that he will lend somebody money, it is like a verbal pledge to tzedakah which is like making a neder. He adds (6) that similarly if one told a poor person that he will lend him an item, it is like a neder and he cannot back out. Even if the borrower is not a poor person and there is no neder, there is still a moral obligation to keep one’s word, unless a good reason arises. This is to avoid being a machuser amanah (7).
Fooling an Arev. Sometimes an Arev is told that he has nothing to worry about because the lender has plenty of resources or an ability to earn steadily, and it is simply not true. If this was told to the Arev in front of the borrower and lender, the Arev can back out when the truth comes out, because the whole commitment was built on a mistake. However, if he just says that he thought that the borrower had more money, and he didn’t, Sefer Knesses Hagedolah rules that he cannot back out. Similarly, if the borrower and lender told the Arev that the loan is for a certain purpose, and it turns out it was for a different purpose, the Arev can say that for such a purpose I would not have wanted to be an Arev. This can be proven from Teshuvos RMA (8).
(1) תתרפ"ט (2) פתחי חשן הלואה יג:כ (3) חו"מ קלא:א (4) ערך שי חו"מ ל"ט (5) אהבת חסד א:יא (6) נתיב החסד י"ח (7) חו"מ רד:ז,ח (8) ל"ג