Parshas Yisro 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Feb 4
- 2 min read
Monetary, Interpersonal Laws and Din Torah (63)
Unprovable Loans. A person may not lend money without witnesses or documentation, a shtar (1), because the borrower might be tempted to deny the loan, or forget that he borrowed, and then deny it. Even a Talmid Chacham might forget because of his immersion in learning. Nowadays people are lenient about this. The Poskim suggest a few reasons. Aruch Hashulchan (2) says that nowadays people only lend to the type of trustworthy individuals who will not forget or deny (3). It is still better to document any significant size loan and be lenient on short-term loans when there is minimal chance of forgetting, or small loans that one will be mochel if prompt payment does not occur.
Asking For Early Payment. Once a loan has been made and a payment date has been arranged, the lender has no right to change his mind and claim payment earlier. If no time was made up, the loan is for thirty days and he cannot claim before that (4).
Pressing For Payment. It says (5), “When you lend money to my people, to the poor one among you, do not behave like a [pressing] creditor towards him.” This means (6) that if one knows that the borrower cannot repay he should not demand payment. He should not even deliberately appear in front of him, if this will embarrass him. This is only when he is certain that he cannot pay. If it is a doubt it is permitted. Kesef Hakodshim (7) stresses that we do not say here the rule "ספק דאורייתא לחומרא" There two reasons for this leniency. From the wording of the posuk it seems that only when he’s certainly too poor to pay does the issur apply. Also, since he may not borrow if he doesn’t know how he can repay, the lender assumes he can pay unless he knows different. If the borrower has belongings that he could sell and then pay, he can ask for payment.
Gabbai of Gemach. The gabbai of a Gemach, even though he is not pressing money for himself, would seem to have this issur (8). Sefer Mishpatei HaTorah (9) compares this to the issur of going into a borrower’s home to grab a security (10) where the Ahavas Chessed (11) says that the issur is also on the gabbai of a Gemach.
(1) בבא מציעא עה:, חו"מ עה:א (2) שם (3) ע' שו"ת ברכת שמים חו"מ י"ד לטעמים אחרים (4) חו"מ עג:א (5) שמות כב:כד (6) ב"מ שם (7) חו"מ צ"ז (8) שבט הלוי י:רסז (9) ב:מ:ד (01) דברים כד:י (11) ז:ח