Comentario sobre Sheviit 10:5

פרוזבול המקדם – that its time is early, that it was written in Kislev and the its time that is written within it is from the previous Tishrei, it is Kasher/fit, because the prerogative of the lender is impaired in this, for a Prozbul does not profit other than to loans from before it, for when they are transferred to the Jewish court, they are cancelled, it is found that they cause loss in what that its time had been advanced, but a postdated Prozbul is invalid, for he made the time later amd the je the borrower between them, and when he produces this Prozbul and the the Jewish court sees the time, they think that the loans preceded the Prozbul and it is found that he collects unlawfully

Introduction This mishnah deals with the dates that are written in the prozbul.

שארי חוב המוקדמים פסולים – as for example, that it refers to Nisan and he wrote in the document the time of the previous Tishrei, they are invalid because he collects unlawfully from the mortgaged property between Tishrei and Nisan, and te Rabbis fine im, that he should not collect at all with this document from the mortgaged property, and even from Nisan and beyond, as a decree lest he collect from them unlawfully between Tishrei and Nisan. But however, the document is not invalid on account of the witnesses that affixed their signatures to it who were wicked who signed the antedated document falsely, for the witnesses would be able to state that that we affixed our names on the essence of the loan and not on the time, and we did not come to testify that it was written and signed on that day.

A pre-dated prozbul is valid, but a post-dated one, is invalid. If a prozbul was written in the month of Tevet, but the date written in it was Cheshvan, which comes before Tevet, the prozbul is still valid. This is because a pre-dated prozbul will be to the detriment only of the creditor since the prozbul will be effective only for loans given out before the prozbul is written. However, if he post-dates the prozbul, i.e. he writes it in Cheshvan but dates it to Tevet, the prozbul is invalid because this is to the benefit of the creditor and to the detriment of the borrower.

והמאוחרים כשרים – because the lender’s prerogative has been weakened, that he doesn’t seize the sold property other from the time that is written in the document.

Pre-dated loan documents [of loans] are invalid, but post-dated one valid. The mishnah now contrasts the prozbul with the loan documents themselves. If one pre-dates a loan document then it is invalid. This is because a loan document creates a lien on the other person’s property and may cause a third party to lose out. For instance, Reuven loans money to Shimon and the loan actually takes place in Nissan but he dates the document to Tishrei. Because the document was dated to Tishrei, the lien will be placed on any property Shimon owned in Tishrei. Thus if Levi bought property between Tishrei and Nissan and Shimon defaults on his loan, Reuven can collect his debt from Levi, even though the loan actually occurred after Levi bought the property. In such a case, there was no lien on Shimon’s property when Levi acquired it, and Reuven’s seizure from Levi is illegal. Therefore, pre-dated loan documents are invalid. However, post-dated loan documents are valid because they are only to the detriment of the creditor. Since no one else will lose out, these documents are valid.

כותבין פרוזבול לכל חד ואחד – for each and every loan it is necessary that he will transmit his documents to the Jewish court and it will write him a Prozbul, therefore, like when five [people] borrow from one [person], it doesn’t write other than one Prozbul, for there is only one lender here, and even though that there are many borrowers, that when the lender will have one Prozbul on everything that is enough.

If one borrows from five persons, then he writes a separate prozbul for each [creditor]. But if five borrow from the same person, then he writes only one prozbul for them all. The prozbul is written for the creditor and not the borrower. Thus if one person borrows money from five different people, each creditor needs his own prozbul. However, if one person lends money to five different people, he needs only one prozbul in order to collect his debt after the seventh year.