Follow the Money
by Adam Kirsch
July 18, 2017
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/bava-batra-daf-yomi-207
Why should the laws governing financial and real-estate transactions be more conducive to wisdom than the laws of marriage or the laws governing Shabbat? The latter areas of halakha are certainly more religious in character, founded on biblical verses and dealing with concepts such as purity and holiness.
Monetary law, on the other hand, is largely secular, devised by the rabbis themselves based on principles of fairness and convenience. Perhaps it is precisely because they leave God out of the equation that such laws are especially good at teaching wisdom. They require a kind of worldly knowledge, a tough-minded awareness of how deals are made, that the rabbis could not find exclusively in the beit midrash.
(לה) וְכִֽי־יָמ֣וּךְ אָחִ֔יךָ וּמָ֥טָה יָד֖וֹ עִמָּ֑ךְ וְהֶֽחֱזַ֣קְתָּ בּ֔וֹ גֵּ֧ר וְתוֹשָׁ֛ב וָחַ֖י עִמָּֽךְ׃
(לו) אַל־תִּקַּ֤ח מֵֽאִתּוֹ֙ נֶ֣שֶׁךְ וְתַרְבִּ֔ית וְיָרֵ֖אתָ מֵֽאֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ וְחֵ֥י אָחִ֖יךָ עִמָּֽךְ׃
(לז) אֶ֨ת־כַּסְפְּךָ֔ לֹֽא־תִתֵּ֥ן ל֖וֹ בְּנֶ֑שֶׁךְ וּבְמַרְבִּ֖ית לֹא־תִתֵּ֥ן אָכְלֶֽךָ׃
(לח) אֲנִ֗י יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־הוֹצֵ֥אתִי אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לָתֵ֤ת לָכֶם֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן לִהְי֥וֹת לָכֶ֖ם לֵאלֹהִֽים׃ (ס)
(35) If your kinsman, being in straits, comes under your authority, and you hold him as though a resident alien, let him live by your side:
(36) do not exact from him advance or accrued interest, but fear your God. Let him live by your side as your kinsman.
(37) Do not lend him your money at advance interest, or give him your food at accrued interest.
(38) I the LORD am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.
Nif. - נִישֵּׁךְ same, to bite. Gen. R. s. 78 לנַשְּׁכוֹ to bite him. Tanḥ. Vayishl. 4 וינַשְּׁכֶנּוּ and may bite him; a. e.—Part. pass. מְנוּשָּׁךְ. Tosef. B. Kam. III, 6 או מ׳ or he is found to have been bitten.
Hif. - הִשִּׁיךְ 1) to cause to bite. Snh. IX, 1 ה׳ בו וכ׳ he brought the serpent near him to bite him, contrad. to שיסה to set on. Ib. 78ᵃ; B. Kam. 23ᵇ, v. נָכַשׁ. Y. Yeb. VIII, 9ᵇ top [read:] מביא נמלין ומַשִּׁיכָן וקוצץ he gets ants and makes them bite (the open wound) and cuts their bodies off (and so the gap is filled), v. Bab. ib. 76ᵃ.—Trnsf. to paste or press together. Y. Ḥall. III, 59ᶜ top, v. מביא ארבע רובעין ומַשִּׁיךְ he takes four lumps of dough which joined contain four fourths of a Kab and presses them together into one lump; a. e. —2) to pay interest. B. Mets. 70ᵇ (ref. to Deut. XXIII, 21) מאי תשיך לאו תִּשּׁוֹךְ לא תַּשִּׁיךְ what is meant by tashshikh? Does it not mean thou mayest (or must) take interest? No, it means, thou mayest (or must) pay him interest.
(לט) וְכִֽי־יָמ֥וּךְ אָחִ֛יךָ עִמָּ֖ךְ וְנִמְכַּר־לָ֑ךְ לֹא־תַעֲבֹ֥ד בּ֖וֹ עֲבֹ֥דַת עָֽבֶד׃
(מ) כְּשָׂכִ֥יר כְּתוֹשָׁ֖ב יִהְיֶ֣ה עִמָּ֑ךְ עַד־שְׁנַ֥ת הַיֹּבֵ֖ל יַעֲבֹ֥ד עִמָּֽךְ׃
(מא) וְיָצָא֙ מֵֽעִמָּ֔ךְ ה֖וּא וּבָנָ֣יו עִמּ֑וֹ וְשָׁב֙ אֶל־מִשְׁפַּחְתּ֔וֹ וְאֶל־אֲחֻזַּ֥ת אֲבֹתָ֖יו יָשֽׁוּב׃
(מב) כִּֽי־עֲבָדַ֣י הֵ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־הוֹצֵ֥אתִי אֹתָ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לֹ֥א יִמָּכְר֖וּ מִמְכֶּ֥רֶת עָֽבֶד׃
(מג) לֹא־תִרְדֶּ֥ה ב֖וֹ בְּפָ֑רֶךְ וְיָרֵ֖אתָ מֵאֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃
(39) If your kinsman under you continues in straits and must give himself over to you, do not subject him to the treatment of a slave.
(40) He shall remain with you as a hired or bound laborer; he shall serve with you only until the jubilee year.
(41) Then he and his children with him shall be free of your authority; he shall go back to his family and return to his ancestral holding.—
(42) For they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt; they may not give themselves over into servitude.—
(43) You shall not rule over him ruthlessly; you shall fear your God.
(א) אֵיזֶהוּ נֶשֶׁךְ וְאֵיזֶהוּ תַרְבִּית. אֵיזֶהוּ נֶשֶׁךְ. הַמַּלְוֶה סֶלַע בַּחֲמִשָּׁה דִינָרִין, סָאתַיִם חִטִּין בְּשָׁלשׁ, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהוּא נוֹשֵׁךְ. וְאֵיזֶהוּ תַרְבִּית, הַמַּרְבֶּה בְּפֵרוֹת. כֵּיצַד. לָקַח הֵימֶנּוּ חִטִּין בְּדִינַר זָהָב הַכּוֹר, וְכֵן הַשַּׁעַר, עָמְדוּ חִטִּין בִּשְׁלשִׁים דִּינָרִין, אָמַר לוֹ תֶּן לִי חִטַּי, שֶׁאֲנִי רוֹצֶה לְמָכְרָן וְלִקַּח בָּהֶן יָיִן. אָמַר לוֹ הֲרֵי חִטֶּיךָ עֲשׂוּיוֹת עָלַי בִּשְׁלשִׁים, וַהֲרֵי לְךָ אֶצְלִי בָּהֶן יָיִן, וְיַיִן אֵין לוֹ:
(1) What is usury (neshech) and what is increase (tarbit)?
It is usury (neshech) when a man lends a sela for five dinars, or two seahs of wheat for three, because he bites (noshech) [off too much].
And what is increase? When a man increases [his gains] by [selling] produce. How is this so? [If] one bought wheat at a golden dinars [=25 silver dinars] for a kor when such was the market price, and then wheat rose to thirty [silver] dinars [per kor]. [If] he said to him, “Give me my wheat since I would sell it and buy wine with the proceeds” and the other said, “Let your wheat be reckoned with me at thirty dinars and you now have a claim on me for wine [to that value], although the creditor has no wine.