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...
Can Eliyahu HaNavee Come On Shabbat?
Is It Permissible To Have A Seuda Inside A Bet Kennesset
Is It Permissible To Change Biblical Verses from Singular to Plural Form
Is It Required To Repeat The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit If Removing The Talit For Just A Short While
Is It Required To Make The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit Again If The 1st Talit Was Found To Be Pasul (Improper)
Is One Required To Stand For An Elderly Lady or Scholarly Woman
Is It Permissible To Simply Answer Amen and Rely On Another's Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit
Granting Precedence to a Jew When Hiring
Is It Permissible To Give A Non-Kosher Turkey To A Goy For Their Holiday
Yichud- 1) Must An Onen Follow The Laws of Yichud, 2) War and Yichud
Yichud- Is It Permissible For A Man To Be Alone With A Lady On An Express Elevator In A Skyscraper
Yichud- Is It Permissible to Be Alone with Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Brother, or Sister
Tzineeut and The Proper and Improper Ways Of Socializing With Friends
How Could We Pray To G-d That Korbanot Be Accepted, When Today We Do Not Have Korbanot?
Some Laws Regarding Visiting or Seeing a Cemetery
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found