shimta

Money makes the world go round, and round, and round. Viewing it in perspective
leads to the inevitable conclusion that anything that accelerates needs an inhibiter to
balance it, because just like the world itself, people too, very often find themselves
going round. Once you’re on top, often you might find yourself glancing upward from
the bottom.
A responsible economic system should see to it that those on the top are sensitive and
helpful to those who are less fortunate. That has to be done without giving those on
top the feeling that are being taken advantage of and without making it shameful to be
rich.
Easy to say, difficult to carry out, especially since those who command such economic
systems have their own interests which usually differ from those who are at the
bottom…
Well, the One who wrote the laws of the Torah does not have to secure His own
materialistic investments with complicated rulings. All is His. And His is all. Rich and
poor are the same in His eyes. He is equally concerned for all.
One who has much property can he, with a hand over his heart, honestly testify that he
achieved more than his competitors/peers because of sheer talent? Those who have
experienced both sides of the wheel of fortune know, more than others, that it is just
that… a wheel of fortune. There is no clear formula that can calculate how much talent
and hard work lead to absolute fortune. What more than the word “fortune” itself to
make our point clear. Can one say that material achievements are totally a result of
pure luck or chance? Of course not!
Yet in a place and era that emphasizes the exact opposite, that hard work and talent
lead to prosperity, it is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves of our limitations. We
need to look around and see the complexity of the world and teach ourselves some
humility.
Moreover, like everything else in Judaism, no novelty is ever confined within the
boundaries of the idea. Every teaching has consequences to be implemented for the
benefit of humankind.
Where on Earth do we start?
That’s where the laws of Shmita (Sabbatical) enter our lives, entering very shortly, at
the start of Rosh Hashanah.What is Shmita all about?
For 7 years we tend to our business as usual. One can buy, sell, lend, hire, anything
allowed in any capitalistic economy, albeit with the specific “balancing” including Mitzvot
such as Tzdakah, tithes and lending without interest etc.
But the big boom kicks in at the 7th year- the year of Shmita. Shmita means that all
properties are released and returned to their original owners. 7 years is the maximum
time span you have to conduct business using your property. At the 7th year, everyone
goes back to ground level zero. This way, no one remains forever groundless. A fresh
beginning; a new start. That is what Shmita is all about.
However, there is more to Shmita than the territorial transactions that can only apply in
our real land, Israel. Another aspect of Shmita comes into play at the end of the 7th
year. It is called Shmitat ksafim’ (money drop)
What is that all about?
It is quite an astonishing idea. All loans are cancelled at the end of the seventh year.
(The dates are predictable, every 7 years from the creation of the world until present
time, 5775). Every borrower should pay of their loans during those seven years. If they
don’t, there is an endpoint. Shmitat ksafim’. All loans become erased. What a wonderful
tiding for those who are in debt. Not so much for the lenders. So how can manipulation
be avoided?
Indeed about 2,100 years ago, at the conclusion of the second temple, there seemed to
be an economic crisis. The rich halted loans for fear of opportunists who would
manipulate Shmitat ksafim’ to increase their own fortunes, by taking loans with the
intention of not repaying them! This phenomenon impaired the country’s economy, but
even worse, the unfortunates, who relied on loans to just to survive bad times, found
themselves at a standstill.
Undoubtedly, this was not the Torah’s intention. Seeing this, Hillel Hazaken, who was
the head of the Sanhedrin at the time, applied Halachik tools entrusted to him by
traditional law, to correct this situation by reinforcing the original Torah values of
sympathy and charity. He installed the ‘prozbul’.
Prozbul, is a legal document (such as the ‘selling of the Chametz at Passover’), where
the lender gives the outstanding bill to the Bet Din (Jewish court). Thus, the debt
becomes de-personalized and therefore shmitat ksafim does not apply to it. The debt in
such a case will not be cancelled at the end of the seventh year.
Therefore if an opportunist borrows money in order to invest and grow his fortune
using others’ charitable inclinations – there is no reason to forgive this debt. The lender
could fill in the prozbul.At the onset, Hillel’s ordinance, that seemed to annul Torahs laws of Shmita, inevitably
became a way to strengthen the Torah’s spirit of Shmita in a beautiful way.
In reality, John Doe who is in a time of need, will make every effort to repay his debt,
because he doesn’t know if the lender completed a Prozbul or not. The lender on his
part will not be afraid to lend money to those who seek aid since he can write a
prozbul, and he has the opportunity to help a friend who stands needy, by NOT filling in
the prozbul. What a pleasant surprise for the borrower a the end of the seventh year!
Recently in the past few years, a very appropriate minhag started taking place. There
are people who come to local Rabbis / Bet Din to fill out the prozbul document and then
lend money to discretionary funds which they exclude from the Prozbul. By that, one
can accomplish two things…the Mitzvah of lending money to the poor as well as
tzedakah and the rabbinic fulfillment of shmita, the release of debts at the end of the
seventh year.
May we never meet at the receiving end. May we all merit the ability to bestow charity
and goodness at God’s will.
Shanah Tova from Avia, B’Naya, Rumya, Amichai and I,