10 Feb PARSHAS MISHPATIM: THE MITZVAH TO LEND MONEY

If you lend money to
My people, to the
poor among you,
do not act toward
them as a creditor;
exact no interest
from them.

Shemos 22:24
Introduction
Reuven was approached by Shimon,
who was in a difficult financial situation.
Shimon was presented with a business
opportunity that required him to produce
twenty thousand dollars, and he
requested that Reuven lend him the
money. Reuven is not an unusually
wealthy individual, but he did have the
necessary funds in the bank. The Torah
extols the virtues of those who lend
money to their fellow Jews, and Reuven
wishes to know if he is obligated to lend
money to Shimon, considering that he
has the ability to do so.
Furthermore, he wonders if the maximum

amount that one is supposed to lend is
similar to that of tzedakah. The Gemara
in Kesubos (50a) teaches that one should
not give more than twenty percent of his
money to tzedakah, since he may become
poor and require charity himself. Does
this apply to lending money, when one
will eventually be paid back?
The Mitzvos Involved
In his English sefer Divine Footsteps,
Rav Daniel Feldman mentions eight or
nine different mitzvos that one might
fulfill by lending money. First and
foremost, if the recipient is poor, it is a
mitzvah of tzedakah.
There is also an independent mitzvah to
lend the money. The pasuk in Mishpatim
(22:24) states, “Im kesef tilveh,” “if you
lend money,” and that phrase introduces
the prohibition of charging interest,
implying that one has a choice whether
or not to lend money. Nevertheless, the
Mechilta considers this pasuk to be the
source of the mitzvah to lend money.

The third possible mitzvah is found in
Parshas Behar (Vayikra 25:35), where
we are told that if our fellow Jew is
struggling, we should do what we can to
help support him and allow him to live
with dignity.
If the borrower is in need of medical care
and requires money to help pay for it, the
lender also fulfills the mitzvah of
hashavas aveidah, which not only applies
to another’s property but to his health as
well.
A possible lo sa’aseh that one avoids
when lending money is the prohibition
of standing idly by when one’s friend is
in danger or suffering, “Lo sa’amod al
dam rei’echa” (Vayikra 19:16).
If the loan immediately precedes a
shemittah year, there is an issur to refrain
from lending money at such a time out of
fear that the loan will be canceled
(Devarim 15:9). Thus, one who lends
money at that time is doing a positive
action to avoid this issur.
If the lender is upset about something
that the prospective borrower did to
him in the past and lends him the
money anyway, he has avoided the
issur of lo sikom, not taking revenge. If
he makes no mention of the previous
wrong when lending the money, he has
further avoided the issur of lo sitor, not
bearing a grudge (both in Vayikra
19:18; see Rashi there, based on Yoma
23a).
The Gemara in Yoma (11a) explains
that one of the reasons that one’s house
might be stricken with tzara’as is that
he refused to lend his possessions to
others. He is now subjected to having
the contents of his house emptied onto
the streets so that people can see that he
really does possess all of the items he
claimed not to have. However, the Ran
writes in a teshuvah (18) that there is
no mitzvah to lend one’s property to
others, with the exception of a sefer
Torah. Otherwise, it is simply a positive
practice to allow others to benefit from
one’s property, but not a mitzvah.
How Much Money?
The Chafetz Chaim writes in Ahavas
Chessed that the limit of twenty percent
that applies in the case of tzedakah
does not apply to lending money, since

one will be receiving the money back.
However, it is impossible that one is
obligated to lend every penny he has in
order to fulfill the mitzvah. He therefore
writes that although there is no set
percentage of one’s net worth that he is
obligated to lend to others, one must
estimate what a reasonable and generous
person in a similar financial situation
would be willing to lend. Obviously, this
varies depending on one’s definition of
reasonable and of generous.
When One Assumes the Borrower
Will Not Pay Back
The Shulchan Aruch (CM 70:1) rules
that if one assumes that the borrower
will not pay back the loan, not only is he
not obligated to lend him money, but he
is forbidden to do so, as lending him
money is a violation of lifnei iver,
causing one’s fellow Jew to stumble.
Additionally, there is an issur to pressure
a borrower to pay back a loan, which the
lender is likely to violate in these
circumstances.
The Shulchan Aruch further requires that
even if the borrower is trustworthy, one
should still take a mashkon (collateral)
or at least write a document in order to
ensure that he repays the loan in a timely
fashion. This obligation supersedes
one’s desire to be nice or to act in a
trusting manner. The Pischei Choshen
(Dinei Halva’ah 1) cites various
acharonim who attempt to explain why
people are not careful to do this, but
everyone agrees that despite any limud
zechus we may find allowing us to
neglect this responsibility, it is far better
to follow the recommendation of the
Shulchan Aruch and write an IOU note.