Kommentar zu Sheviit 10:9

המחזיר חוב בשביעית (one who repays a debt cancelled by the Seventh Year) – the borrower/debtor says to the lender/creditor, “even so/nevertheless,” and returns to him his money, the Sages are pleased with him.

Introduction In the final mishnah of Sheviit we learn that although one is not obligated to pay back a debt that has been remitted by the seventh year, the sages praise a debtor who does so in any case. Our mishnah teaches two other instances in which a person is not obligated to do something but nevertheless should do so. This is an important category in all forms of law, be it Jewish law or other forms of law. The law tells a person bottom-line what she/he has to do it does not always tell a person what he should do. There is a realm, in my opinion, of morality that goes beyond the law. This is the subject of our mishnah.

לא יחזיר לבניו – he is not obligated to return [the debt] to his children (i.e., of the convert), if the convert died.

One who repays his debts after the seventh year, the sages are pleased with him. As I noted in yesterday’s mishnah, it is praiseworthy to pay back a loan, even if it has been remitted by the seventh year. After all, the person really does owe the money. Perhaps we could say that he should take advantage of the sabbatical year remission only if he absolutely must do so.

ואם החזיר רוח חכמים ננוחה הימנו – and exactly to his children that were converted with him, because an idolater inherits his father from the Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 2:5): “I have given the hill country of Seir as a possession to Esau,” and if he doesn’t return [the loan] to his (i.e., the convert’s) children, one can suspect lest they will return to their original nature when they say,” if we were idolaters, we would inherit their fathers, and it would be necessary to return [the debt] to them, but if their parents were not were lacking holiness (i.e., the children were conceived while they were heathens) but at their births, they were in holiness (i.e., the children were born when they became Israelites), they didn’t inherit their fathers from the Torah, for their inheritance would not ever be appropriate for them , one cannot suspect this less they return to their original nature, and one who ever restores it (i.e., the inheritance) to them, the Sages are not pleased with him.

One who borrows from a convert whose sons had converted with him, the debt need not be repaid to his sons, but if he returns it the sages are pleased with him. Conversion is considered to be a process similar to birth a person is in a sense “born-again” when they convert. Therefore, they lose any legal ties to their parents or children and according to Torah law, children who convert do not inherit from their parents. Therefore, if someone owes a convert money and the convert dies, technically he need not repay the convert’s children who were born before he converted (if they were born after he converted then they are legally considered his children). However, the rabbis praise a person who does repay this loan, because, after all, he does in reality owe the money, and we all know that in reality, these are his children.

כל המטלטלין נקנין במשיכה – and whenever he did not take possession by drawing or seizing an object each one of them can retract, and even though he (i.e., the potential purchaser) gave the money, the monies do not purchase until he draws/seizes the object that is acquired, but nevertheless, a person who fulfills his word and doesn’t retract, and even if he did not take possession by drawing or seizing an object, the Sages are pleased with him, for it is taught in a Baraitha (Talmud Bava Metzia 49a on Leviticus 19:36): “You shall have [an honest balance, honest weights,] an honest ephah, and an honest hin,” that your “no”/negative response will be in righteousness and your “yes”/positive response will be in righteousness.

All movable property can be acquired [only] by the act of drawing, but whoever fulfills his word, the sages are well pleased with him. When a person acquires movable property, that is to say, things such as animals and objects, he must actually take them into his possession in order to acquire them. Money does not itself effect acquisition. Therefore, if Reuven buys, for instance, a table from Shimon and gives Shimon the money, the table is not his until he actually takes possession of it. Should Shimon find a better price for the table, he could sell it to someone else and just return the money to Reuven. Similarly, Reuven could ask for his money back if he finds a better table or a better price. However, the sages praise a person who keeps his word and does not renege on a deal, even when he is allowed to do so. Congratulations! We have finished Sheviit! It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. As I wrote this commentary to Sheviit, Israel was beginning to observe a sabbatical year. I am not adding plants to my garden and when I go to the store I check the labels on the produce I buy to make sure that I am not buying “sabbatical year produce.” While I know that most of the readers of this commentary yare living outside of Israel, everyone should know that many of the laws in this tractate are still influential and practiced in the land. Observing the shemittah in Israel and still maintaining a modern economy, all the while protecting the needs of farmers has been a great challenge to rabbis, and continues to be a major issue to this day. The tractate is also interesting because it is the most environmental tractate in the Mishnah. The Torah’s laws teach us that human beings do not ultimately possess the land they are merely sojourners on it, for the land actually belongs to God. It is clear, at least to me, that the greatest challenge that our generation and probably all future generations face, is the massive environmental damage humans have done and continue to do to our planet. We risk making the world simply an uninhabitable place to live. Sheviit teaches us that the land needs to rest, it needs to recover from all that we ask of it. While we may not be able to fulfill all of these laws the way that they were originally formulated, the message is one that resonates with greater alarm every day. I just hope that we listen in time to make a difference. Tomorrow we begin Tractate Terumot.