Borrowing From Gentiles
To meet the drain on the halukkah, the Jerusalem community borrowed from Gentiles at an enormous rate of interest, up to 45 per cent per annum, mortgaging their communal property; and when they failed to meet the obligations at maturity, the leaders of the congregation were imprisoned and held for ransom. Rabbi David Melammed, a meshullah of Hebron, rendered a decision to the effect that inasmuch as the representative Jews of Hebron were held under bail for taxes and other indebtedness of the community, they came under the category of "captives held for ransom," whose claims, therefore, took precedence over all other charitable matters having a special fund for disposal, and were not a perversion of charity (his responsa, in Ezekiel Silva's "Mayim Hayyim," Amsterdam, 1718).
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Famous quotes containing the words borrowing and/or gentiles:
“Well-borrowed and well-returned, then borrowing again will not be spurned.”
—Chinese proverb.
Rhyme.
“...and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
—Bible: New Testament, Galatians 2:9.