DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 570 KB)
Shemitat Kesafim: Paying After Shemita for Borrowed Goods

It is forbidden to demand payment after the Shemita year for loans given before the end of Shemita. If the borrower offers to pay the loan, the lender is obligated to say, "Meshamet Ani" ("I cancel"), announcing the debt’s annulment.

The Ben Ish Hai (Rabbi Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Ki-Tavo, writes that this Halacha applies even to borrowed goods. For example, if a person borrows a dozen eggs from a neighbor toward the end of Shemita, and after Rosh Hashanah he approaches the neighbor to pay for the eggs, the neighbor must refuse to accept the payment. The reason, the Ben Ish Hai explains, is that borrowing grocery items is akin to borrowing money: the borrower uses the goods however he likes, with the expectation that he will pay the value of those foods with something else. This situation is identical to a monetary loan, which is given so that the borrower can spend the money and the repay the debt with other money. Therefore, a debt incurred by borrowing goods also falls under the obligation of "Shemitat Kesafim" (the remission of debts after Shemita).

In light of this Halacha, the Ben Ish Hai recommends that people specifically make a point of lending goods to their neighbors before Shemita, in order to have the opportunity to fulfill this special Misva. One should approach his neighbor before Rosh Hashanah and offer to lend items such as flour or eggs, and then, when the neighbor comes after Rosh Hashanah to pay, the lender should declare, "Meshamet Ani," and thereby fulfill the Misva of "Shemitat Kesafim."

Summary: Just as the end of the Shemita year cancels all loans, it similarly cancels debts incurred by borrowing grocery items such as food. Thus, if a neighbor borrowed eggs, for example, from his neighbor toward the end of the Shemita year, once Rosh Hashanah comes the lender may not demand or accept payment.


Visit www.iTorah.com to download the Prozbol form.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Yom Tov- Is It Permissible To Smoke On Yom Tov or To Use A Measuring Cup
Holidays Do Not Fall Out On Particular Days Of The Week
Yom Tov- It Is Forbidden To Light A Match or Extinguish A Flame
Isru Hag Shavuot and Tachanun in the Days Following Shavuot
The Custom to Read Megilat Rut on Shabuot
Shabuot – Reciting Azharot; Learning Tehillim and Other Forms of Study; The Custom to Eat Dairy
Shabuot – Saying the Shema Prayer Out Loud on Shabuot Morning
Shabuot – Standing for the Reading of the Ten Commandments; Decorating the Synagogue
Shabuot – The Obligation to Celebrate and Rejoice
Donating 104 Coins to Charity Before Shabuot
Shabuot – Eating Meat and Dairy
Shabuot – Preparing for the Holiday, Sleeping on Shabbat When Shabuot Begins on Mosa’eh Shabbat
Preparing for Shabuot When it Begins on Mosa’eh Shabbat
Tikkun Lel Shabuot
Ereb Shabuot
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found