“You shall not give him your money with interest…” (Vayikra 25:37)
The prohibition against charging interest is juxtaposed with the laws of Shemittah (Sabbatical Year). What is the connection between the two? The Shemittah year is designed to remind all Jews that the land they till every day is a gift from Hashem. The prohibition against interest reminds Jews that the money they lend to others is theirs by a gift from Hashem and it is not proper to derive benefit from it. All of man’s possessions are granted by Hashem, to be used for the benefit of his fellow man. If he abuses these gifts and uses them selfishly, he doesn’t deserve to keep them. (Sefer Lilmod Ulelamed)
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz zt”l used to explain the Torah’s prohibition against taking interest when lending money to others by saying that the Torah wants to train us to do acts of kindness for others without any gain at all. Not only is it forbidden to receive money for lending money, but the person who borrowed the money is not allowed to do any special favors for the person who lent him the money. When you lend someone money, you are doing so only because you want to help this person and you know that you will not be receiving anything material in return.
There is a strong tendency for people to keep asking, “What’s in this for me?” When they do not see any personal profit or benefit in what they are doing, they are frequently not motivated to take action. (Continued on page 2) But the Torah ideal is that we should develop the attribute of helping others for no ulterior motive. Do kindness for the sake of kindness itself. This is the Torah’s lesson in the commandment to lend others money without any form of personal gain.
One day members of the Chazon Ish’s family came running to his room when they heard him crying out in great anguish. What happened? Someone whom the Chazon Ish didn’t really know had borrowed a sum of money and now he came to repay the loan. Before the Chazon Ish had a chance to count the money, the man left the house. As soon as the Chazon Ish counted the money, however, he found that the person had given him more than he had borrowed.
With deep grief the Chazon Ish pleaded with members of his family, “Please have mercy on me, and search for that person. He paid me back evil in place of good. I lent him money to help him out of his financial difficulties, but in return, he caused me this great misfortune.”
He had no rest until his relatives made a thorough search for the stranger. Eventually, they found him and brought him back to the Chazon Ish who returned the extra money. (P’air Hador, vol.3, p.41)[1]
[1] Rav Zelig Plisken shlita-Growth Through Torah (with permission from the publisher)
