{"id":125515,"date":"2022-09-21T10:26:44","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T07:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=125515"},"modified":"2022-09-22T15:01:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T12:01:33","slug":"shemittah_debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/shemittah_debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Once Every Seven Years: Dismissing Debt on Rosh Hashanah"},"content":{"rendered":"

One aspect of Shemittah<\/em> \u2013 the biblically mandated Sabbatical Year \u2013 is debt relief: Creditors release debtors from loans that are due to be repaid. The release \u2013 termed Shemittat Kesafim<\/em> (release of monies) \u2013 is triggered on Rosh Hashanah following the Sabbatical Year: sundown September 25, 2022.<\/p>\n

The workaround<\/h2>\n

During the Second Temple period, it became apparent that creditors were not extending loans to the needy, lest they would not be able to recover the funds because of Shemittat Kesafim<\/em>. Extending credit to the needy is a form of charity. Moreover, not providing loans because of Shemittat Kesafim<\/em> is in conflict with the biblical warning not to let the remission hinder extending credit.<\/p>\n

To combat the trend, Hillel the Elder instituted a legal instrument termed prozbul<\/em> \u2013 a fictitious transfer of bonds held by creditors to the court of law. The sabbatical remission applies only to debts owed to individuals, and not to debts owed to the court. Hence, the bond remains intact despite the biblical debt relief. Creditors \u2013 acting as agents of the court \u2013 can then recover outstanding debts despite Shemittat Kesafim<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Prozbul<\/em> involves a simple declaration attested by witnesses or judges: \u201cI deliver to you [insert names] judges of [insert location], that any debt that I have [owed to me] that I may collect it at any time I choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The specific goal of Hillel\u2019s legal innovation was to help the needy by encouraging creditors to extend loans. The motivation for Hillel\u2019s enactment is also described in general terms as mipnei tikkun ha-\u2018olam<\/em>, for the sake of order of the world. In contemporary discourse, Tikkun Olam<\/a> has become a popular \u2013 and one could argue overused \u2013 catchcry.<\/p>\n

It was Greek to me<\/h2>\n

The meaning of the Greek term prozbul<\/em> and its Hellenistic legal origins have been discussed by scholars. Already in Babylonia, the rabbis were unsure of the term\u2019s etymology. Thus Rava sought assistance from a foreigner who spoke Greek as to the meaning of the term. The Greek-speaker explaned: Pursa<\/em> (enactment) of the matter. Scholars have suggested that the term comes from \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03ae (prosbol\u00e9), meaning delivery<\/em> and describing the transfer of the bond to the court. Other scholars suggested that the term is a portmanteau of \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1fc7 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd (pros boul\u00e9 bouleuton), meaning before the assembly of councilors<\/em> and describing the authority that receives the bonds. The Talmud offers a different explanation: The term comes from the words pros<\/em> buli<\/em> and buti<\/em> \u2013 the enactment (pros<\/em>) for the wealthy (buli<\/em>) who can recover debts, and for the impoverished (buti<\/em>) who can obtain loans.<\/p>\n

Lost in time<\/h2>\n

By the Middle Ages, Shemittat Kesafim<\/em> had been forgotten in many Jewish communities. It was not just that the loan remission was not observed, but executing a prozbul<\/em> to avoid debt cancellation was also not widespread. This is apparent from legal sources that can be divided into four categories:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Justifications<\/strong> for the neglect;<\/li>\n
  2. Critique<\/strong> for the neglect and calls for reinstatement;<\/li>\n
  3. Contractual stipulations <\/strong>\u2013 actual or implied \u2013 that circumvent the law;<\/li>\n
  4. Communal ordinances<\/strong> that abrogate the law of debt cancellation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To be sure, prozbul<\/em> templates and documents from the Middle Ages have survived. For example, a prozbul<\/em> from 1224<\/a> was discovered in the Cairo Genizah.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    A prozbul<\/em> document<\/a> from the Cairo Genizah, 1224, Jacques Mosseri, Paris, France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The balance of the legal sources was a demand to keep the debt relief law, which meant choosing between two alternatives: either debt release or using a legal instrument to avoid debt release. This second path included various options, such as executing a prozbul<\/em>, incorporating a circumvention clause in the loan contract, setting the payment date after Rosh Hashanah, securing the loan with collateral, and more.<\/p>\n

    No one suggested that there was a legal need or a religious value for creditors to do both; that is, cancel debts and<\/em> avoid debt release. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with choosing different alternatives for different debts. It was at the discretion of creditors whether to cancel a debt or opt for a workaround. It is not hard to imagine a creditor applying the debt release to certain loans, while avoiding the release for other loans. For example, a creditor may choose to cancel a personal loan to a poor debtor, but execute a prozbul<\/em> for a loan to a successful entrepreneur who has suffered a temporary loss. In other words, the circumstances might dictate the creditors\u2019 decision. No sources suggested that there was a religious ideal to actively seek a way to fulfil the biblical command and release debts.<\/p>\n

    Symbolic loan<\/h2>\n

    The great Baghdadi scholar, Rabbi Yosef Hayim (1835-1909), discussed debt relief laws in his Ben Ish Hai<\/em><\/a> \u2013 a compendium of practical Jewish law, designed as a two-year programme of study. Rabbi Yosef Hayim was a prolific writer<\/a>, but he is identified by the title of this volume due to its widespread popularity. After recounting the basic laws of prozbul<\/em>, Ben Ish Hai added a watershed passage:<\/p>\n

    \n

    And behold there are those who act piously, after they write the prozbul, they lend some sum of money \u2013 ten grush or less or more \u2013 to a friend, and on that amount the prozbul<\/em> is ineffective, since they loaned [the money] after the time of the prozbul.<\/p>\n

    And then, after Rosh Hashanah, when his friend brings him the funds to pay him back, [the creditor] should say to [the debtor] \u201cI cancel [the debt],\u201d and [the creditor] should not receive [the funds] from [the debtor], and the debtor can use these funds and enjoy them, and the creditor can enjoy the mitzvah<\/em> of releasing monies [owed] that he actually fulfilled.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Grush<\/em> refers to a silver currency unit used for daily transactions in the Ottoman Empire. The purchasing power of ten grush<\/em> in Ben Ish Hai\u2019s context may be estimated at US$15-20. Thus the loan that Ben Ish Hai was advocating was a symbolic gesture, though the amount was not worthless. The symbolism of the act is further emphasised by the identity of the recipient \u2013 a friend, rather than a pauper. This post-prozbul<\/em> loan was an attempt to preserve an element of debt release, even if it was only a shadow of the original biblical commandment.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    A prozbul<\/em> document<\/a> from the early 1860s, signed by Ya’akov Bar Ya’akov Amsalem, Morocco, donated by Ezra P. Gorodetzky, the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Ben Ish Hai opened his description with the claim that \u201cthere are those who act piously\u201d \u2013 indicating that this was an existing custom. Alas, documentation of such a practice has not reached us. At least as far as local practice was concerned, Ben Ish Hai seems to have introduced the custom in Baghdad, as the following biographical note suggests:<\/p>\n

    \n

    I instituted this mitzvah<\/em> here in our city Baghdad, may God protect it. I printed prozbul<\/em> documents and I distributed them to a number of people and they executed them.<\/p>\n

    And I also taught them that they should do thus \u2013 to loan any sum after the prozbul<\/em> time and to actually fulfil the mitzvah<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Ben Ish Hai added a further angle:<\/p>\n

    \n

    And also if a person borrowed loaves of bread from his friend, even one loaf, the law of Shemittah<\/em> applies to this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    In the eyes of the Ben Ish Hai, this was an opportunity for fulfilment of the mitzvah<\/em> by another sector of the community:<\/p>\n

    \n

    Therefore, it is good if the woman loans a loaf of bread or two or three to her friend on the day before Rosh Hashanah, and after Rosh Hashanah when [the borrower] pays her back, she will say to her: \u201cI cancel [the debt],\u201d and thus this woman fulfils the commandment of Shemittah<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Once again Ben Ish Hai provided a local report, followed by a triumphant crescendo:<\/p>\n

    \n

    And thus a number of women did so in our city, may God protect it, because with the help of God may he be blessed, I preached [about] this matter in public. Fortunate is Israel!<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    “An Announcement on the Matter of p<\/em>rozbul<\/em>” – a public notice<\/a> on behalf of the the “Edah Haredit” community organization, mentioning that rabbis would be answering questions on the subject of prozbuls<\/em>, “everyday between 3 and 4 in the afternoon”, 1966, the Pashkevil Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Last minute loan<\/h2>\n

    Lest we think that Rabbi Yosef Hayim was a lone voice advocating this creative course: Another authority, from a later period and from a different cultural milieu also signed a prozbul<\/em> and then gave a loan in order to preserve an element of the original biblical requirement. This episode was reported in 1994 as Shemittah<\/em> 5754 drew to a close.<\/p>\n

    On Shabbat afternoon, August 6, 1994 \u2013 the day before Rosh Hodesh Elul, the final month of that Shemittah<\/em> year \u2013 Rabbi Pinhas Menachem Alter of Ger (1926-1996) spoke to his Hasidim, as was his custom. These talks were posthumously published under the title Pnei Menahem<\/em>. As per the Ger practice, the title of the rebbe\u2019s work became the standard name for the hasidic master.<\/p>\n

    Within a month of the talk, people would diligently execute prozbul<\/em>s before the next Hebrew year began. At the end of his talk, Pnei Menahem added a vignette about his father, Rabbi Avraham Mordekhai Alter of Ger (Imrei Emet<\/em>, 1865-1948):<\/p>\n

    \n

    I heard from one the elders who saw that my father of blessed memory (when he was in the Land of Israel) in the Shemittah<\/em> year wrote a prozbul<\/em> as per the institution of the sages, and nevertheless since he wanted to fulfil the commandment of Shemittat Kesafim<\/em>, therefore after writing the prozbul<\/em> he sought after a poor person to lend him a bit of money in order to fulfil the plain meaning of the verse \u201cand your heart shall not be resentful [when you give to him; Deut. 15:10], since loans from here henceforth are released.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    Rabbi Avraham Mordekhai Alter of Ger (The Imrei Emet<\/em><\/a>), the Schwadron Portrait Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    There is no indication that the Polish hasidic master had been inspired by the Baghdadi rabbinic leader. Imrei Emet seems to have gone further than Ben Ish Hai in that he sought a needy person, so that the debt relief would provide real assistance to the impoverished.<\/p>\n

    Notwithstanding the difference, it seems that the two rabbis \u2013 who were educated in different cultural contexts \u2013 were driven by a heartfelt desire to fulfil the original biblical commandment, despite the existence of an acceptable rabbinic workaround.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The concept of Shemittah \u2013 the Jewish Sabbatical Year \u2013 includes among other things a provision to release people from debts owed to others. Though clearly a noble and moral sentiment, such a law can easily lead to problematic situations and even exploitation. Levi Cooper delves into one possible solution to this issue, provided by a 2000 year-old legal loophole\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":126202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[1232,1536,310,224,1867],"tags2":[2656,2651,2789,2665,2756],"class_list":["post-125515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judaism","tag-history-of-israel","tag-jewish-culture","tag-jewishmanuscripts","tag-judaism","tag-rosh-hashanah"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOnce Every Seven Years: Dismissing Debt on Rosh Hashanah<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The concept of Shemittah \u2013 the Jewish Sabbatical Year \u2013 includes among other things a provision to release people from debts owed to others. 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