Taamei Hamitzvos - Lending Without Interest (Part One)
Reasons Behind the Mitzvos
By Rabbi Shmuel Kraines
“Study improves the quality of the act and completes it, and a mitzvah is more beautiful when it emerges from someone who understands its significance.” (Meiri, Bava Kama 17a)
Mitzvah #68; Shemos 22:24 and Vayikra 25:335-38
The Torah prohibits lending to a fellow Jew with interest. One would have thought that there is nothing wrong with charging for “renting out” one’s hard-earned money, and that it is even a great act of kindness when the borrower needs the loan and fully consents to the terms. The Torah enlightens our eyes and raises our standard of ethics by issuing no less than six prohibitions against lending with interest, one prohibition against participating in the loan as a witness, guarantor, or scribe, and two prohibitions against borrowing with interest.
We learn more about the severity of this matter from the following Midrash in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (§33):Hashem took the prophet Yechezkel to the Valley of Dura and showed him dried-out bones from 600,000 Jews. Hashem caused all the bones to sprout flesh and return to life, except for one set of bones. When Yechezkel asked why, Hashem explained: “He lent with interest; he shall not live!” (Yechezkel 18:17). The commentators note that the 599,999 who merited resurrection were not exactly saints either. The total dryness of their bones symbolized their total lack of merit, and they were even guilty of painting images of idols inside the Beis HaMikdash (Sanhedrin 92b). In fact, it was specifically because of their lack of merit that Hashem instructed Yechezkel to resurrect them at that dismal time in Jewish history, when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed and many Jews were losing hope, to show that there is always hope for a Jew. Except, that is, for someone who lends with interest (Noda B’Yehudah Ahavas Tzion §8). What is so terrible about this sin?
Let us begin from the beginning. Hashem created the world for the sake of kindness, that is, so that Hashem could perform kindness and so that people could perform kindness (Ahavas Chessed 2:7; see Rashi to Avos 1:2). Thus, the Sages teach that anyone who denies that one is meant to perform kindness has denied a principal tenet of our faith (Kohelet Rabbah §7). We find a parallel teaching about interest: “Anyone who lends with interest has denied a principal tenet of our faith” (Sifra §5). Since lending without interest is an essential kindness that is expected of every Jew, lending with interest is tantamount to the heretical denial of the tenet of kindness. Thus, although the Mitzvah to lend without interest applies to any borrower, the Torah speaks about it in the context of a poor person, for whom it is an essential act of kindness. It says that we must lend him so that he can establish himself financially “and live” (Vayikra 25:36). Establishing someone financially is considered the greatest form of charity (Rambam, Hil. Matnos Aniim 10:7).
As great a kindness it is to lend without interest, it is an evil to lend with interest. The Torah calls interest, “neshech” (biting), alluding to how the interest in a loan appears small and insignificant, but then swells to become equal to the entire loan, the same way a venomous snake bite seems no more than a scratch at first, and then the venom spreads to the entire body. Just as the Primordial Snake tempted man to disregard the venom of his bite, so to speak, a poor person in need of urgent funds is tempted to borrow on interest. As time passes, and the poor man still lacks the means to return the loan, he is tempted to agree to an extension in return for additional interest, and his ability to return the loan grows increasingly smaller. A loan without interest can be lifesaving; a loan with interest can kill a person. Accordingly, someone who refuses to grant life to the poor by lending them money without interest does not deserve to come back to life at the Resurrection of the Dead (Chida, Kisei David).
We find another reason for this in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Mishpatim §12): just as the lender took interest until it swallowed the principal, the earth “takes interest” from his body until it swallows the principal. We may add that a person who does not emulate His
Creator’s abundant mercy in his lifetime does not deserve to be a recipient of the great kindness of the Resurrection, about which we say in the second blessing Shemoneh Esrei, “Who resurrects the dead with abundant mercy.” Another Midrash tells us that while the Heavenly Court generally endeavors to find any possible reason to acquit sinners, it does not do so for someone who lends with interest (Shemos Rabbah 31:14). We may understand this similarly: since he treats his fellow Jew cruelly, he does not deserve mercy. Conversely, someone who maintains an interest-free loan fund and constantly brings life to the needy merits corresponding mercy from Hashem and life in both worlds.
