Rabbinic Response
The rabbis of the time found the state of affairs to be both a major challenge to the status quo and a violation of numerous mitzvot, Torah laws, that require magnanimity to the poor, including one within the aforementioned passage in Deuteronomy. The rabbis, under the suggestion of Hillel the Elder, created a legal fiction, a loophole in Jewish law, in which a legal document would accompany the interest-free loans (charging interest to fellow Jews was forbidden in the Torah) issued by individuals that stated that the loans were to be transferred to the courts as the law of remission does not apply to loans within the public domain. This groundbreaking institution benefited both borrower and lender; because lenders knew their money was safe even following the Sabbatical year, they were likely to loan to the poor.
Read more about this topic: Prozbul
Famous quotes containing the word response:
“Women had to deal with the men’s response when the women wanted more time “out” of the home; men now must deal with the women’s response as men want more time “in.””
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)