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Friday

י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Friday
י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

128 – Supporting a poor person / Part II, Chapter Twenty One (b)

There are God-fearing Jews who go out of their way to do extra kindness with those who need a loan in order to survive financially. These lenders do not stipulate that the loan is to be paid all at once — which would only lead the poor borrower back into their poverty — rather, they allow the borrowers to repay the loan in installment, a little at a time. In this manner, the chessed is much greater.

One can learn from those who give loans with interest, that they give borrowers the option of paying back slowly so that the borrowers will have the ability to pay back and in that way the lender will earn more interest. So, too, when someone give a loan as an act of kindness, he should give the borrower the option of paying back the loan with ease, and in this way the lender keeps the mitzvah in its ideal form. One who does this fulfills the verse, Praiseworthy is he who contemplates the needy (Tehillim 41:2), and he will be rewarded with what is at the end of that verse: On the day of evil Hashem will deliver him.

 

He has told you, O Man, what is good, and what Hashem asks of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your G-d” (Micha 6:8)