Interest Free Loans

There is no doubt in my mind that Judaism provides us with a set of laws to follow, known as mitzvoth.  The foundation of the code, following the 10 commandments, is established in parashat Mishpatim.  In fact, it discusses 53 of the 613 mitzot, 23 being affirmative and 30 being prohibitions.  If you want to know how Judaism distinguished between premeditated murder and other homicides, how one should treat his/her parents, or what should happen if there is an injury to a pregnant woman that causes her to miscarry, then Mishpatim is definitely the section of Torah to peruse.

Today, however, I want to focus on just one statement found in chapter 22 verse 24.  “If you lend money to my people, to the poor that is with you, you shall not be to him as a demanding creditor, neither shall you lay upon him any interest.”

How many of you remember the Hebrew free loan society that met for years in the basement of this building?  Such societies were established all over cities around America specifically due to the statement we just read.  In addition, this law regarding lending and borrowing money was considered so significant that it became the basis of much discussion in the Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch.

“The Or Ha-Chaim (a Torah commentator from Morrocco during the early 1700’s who eventually settled in Jerusalem) interprets the verse to mean that when a person has assets that exceed his own needs and he is therefore in a position to lend money, he should realize that it is the money of the poor that he is holding, and that he is but a conduit to distribute it to the poor, and therefore he should not be hesitant to lend nor be unreasonably demanding of repayment.”  (Twerski, Living Each Week)

The Talmud, in Bava Batra 131b, considers one’s personal wealth as an example of G-d having given much to one person and little to another in the same way that a father might leave his entire estate to one child assuming that that child would then distribute it evenly among the other heirs rather than keeping it all for his or her own self.  The child who is left with much is to be seen merely as the executor of an estate who is required to distribute the funds over which he/she has control.

Sometimes in families, we find that some members are doing well financially while other parts of the family unit are struggling.  Perhaps individuals who help out a struggling sibling think they are being magnanimous by doing so, but the Aruch Ha Shulchan, a chapter by chapter restatement of the Shulchan Aruch written by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, would lead us to believe otherwise. This 19^th century Jewish legal scholar wrote, “A large portion of the tzedakah that you give should go to your relatives and the poor of your town. In other words, it is our obligation to help our relatives who are struggling.

Does this mean that we must give to our relatives or any poor individual without hopes of being repaid?  Absolutely not!  The idea of lending may actually be a greater mitzvah than giving alms.  By lending money, you in effect are also trying to maintain the other individual’s sense of dignity since the individual can make plans to repay you.  What if the repayment does not take place?  Should you place yourself in a position of asking the individual for the repayment?  According to the original statement we read, the answer would be no.  We are not to be a “demanding creditor.”

I know that as the distributor of funds for the synagogue’s discretionary fund, I often have individuals who say they have an immediate financial need that cannot be met.  They do not come looking for a “hand-out” rather for a loan that can be repaid.  I don’t ask them to repay it by a specific date, but I do let them offer the means by which they hope to do so.  I also do not hound them for repayment when the monies do not arrive by the timeline they have set, nor call to remind them in a gentle way.  Yet, interestingly enough, many individuals call to say their timeline didn’t work out for them, but that they have not forgotten.  In many cases, the loans have been repaid even without reminders!

Should you charge your next of kin interest for the loans that you have provided them?  Once again, the answer is no based on the statement in today’s parasha.  There is a midrash that speaks about this very question.  It states that “when an individual is brought before the heavenly tribunal, he is given the opportunity to defend himself against the various charges of sins he committed but no such opportunity for defense is given for the sin of lending money with interest(Shemot Rabbah, Mishpatim 14)” (Twerski, Living Each Week)

The thought of giving money to our grown children who need our help, to parents who run out of money in their old age, or to siblings who run into hard times, may make many individuals feel as if they really have no obligation to do so or as if they should demand repayment with interest for the act of tzedakah that they have performed.  By reading today’s passage and the commentary that has been written about it, I think you can see that such expectations are not in alignment with Jewish law.