“One who borrows without permission is a thief” and likewise one who borrows an article from a friend and lends it to another without permission from the owners, is a thief, for one who borrows a book or an object from his friend is not permitted to lend it to others. It is good for a person to buy whatever he needs so that he should not need to borrow from his friend for sometimes he does not want to lend and is embarrassed to refuse and lends it because of that and in this there is a tinge of theft. And sometimes his friend lies and says “I don’t have” when in truth he does have and one is in a position of causing his friend to sin.
How much more so must one be careful not to borrow and to request a gift from any person and a person must suspect that perhaps the other will be embarrassed to refuse and therefore will give the gift and this is considered theft. And all the more so from one who does not want to give for if he takes from him against his will it is outright theft. Similarly, this concept applies to one who borrows without the intention to repay.
The commandment of lending is a big kindness “wealth and riches will remain in his house and his righteousness will stand forever” and even if due to this his property will be slightly lost, more than that which he loses he will gain in the reward which he will receive from Hashem for his kindness. And the man and his wife should be benevolent and they should buy extra vessels in their house in order to lend them to others, and they should not send a borrower back empty handed and Hashem will repay them sevenfold.
