WEEKLY DAFootnotes #27
Bava Metzia 58-64; Issue #27
13-19 Shevat 5762 / 27 Jan. - 1 Feb. 2002
A WARNING OF INTEREST
The futility of attempting to accumulate wealth by indulging in forbidden usury is dramatically spelled out by King Solomon (Mishlei 28:8), who warns that one who does so will see that it was all amassed for eventually ending up by the poor.
In our gemara the Sage Rav explains that these ill-gotten gains will be confiscated by the government in the manner of Shvor Malka, King of Persia, who was in the habit of confiscating Jewish money and supporting non-Jews who are "poor" in that they do not have the mitzvot which were commanded to the Jews (Rashi).
This approach of governmental confiscation is used as well by Rabbi Tanchuma in his Midrash but with a different twist as regards the needy beneficiaries. The government will use the confiscated money, he writes, to build bridges and repair roads from which all those who need, them will benefit.
A radically different approach to this warning of Solomon is provided by Metzudot David commentary on mishna. The confiscator will not be a government, but Hashem who will transfer these sinful gains to a righteous person who will utilize them to help the poor.
A somewhat similar approach to that of Metzudot is the one proposed by Malbim. Two passages earlier Solomon praises the poor man who acts honestly and declares that he will be better off than the man who become rich through devious behavior. In the passage under discussion he reinforces this point by warning that the wealth of the devious one will abandon him and end up in the hands of the honest man who had not become wealthy because he was "giving to the poor" loans without interest.
Bava Metzia 70b
BOUNCING BACK FROM BANKRUPTCY
A special reward is promised for the Jew who does not lend money on interest. King David declares (Tehillim 15:5) that he will never financially collapse. This implies, says Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar, that the one who does take interest will collapse. In our gemara we find a challenge to this promise from practical experience because we see people who refrained from taking interest and still collapse financially.
A surface understanding of this statement is that the righteous fellow who resisted the temptation to take interest on his loans will always bounce back after a financial collapse. But this too is challenged by one of the great commentaries of the last few centuries, Rabbi Arye Leib Hacohen, whose classic works "Ketzot Hachoshen," "Avnei Miluiim" and "Shev Shemaitsa" are studied in depth by Torah scholars. In his introduction to "Shev Shemaitsa" he raised the problem that we see people who did not take interest and collapsed financially without bouncing back.
His solution to this problem is based on a midrash which describes the cycle of prosperity in this world as one in which Hashem lowers one's fortunes and raises those of another. Property is referred to in the gemara as "nechasim" which also means concealed. This conveys the message that property becomes concealed to one and revealed to another as fortunes shift. In similar fashion money is referred to as "zuzim," which also means movement, to indicate that money moves from one owner to another.
The meaning of the resurgence from collapse promised to the one who did not make his money by taking interest is that even if he completely collapses financially his fortune will resurge elsewhere to benefit someone else. The interest taken, on the other hand, will be punished with a financial collapse which causes his fortune to vanish completely and not resurge for anyone's benefit.
Bava Metzia 71a
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