Commento su Deuteronomio 23:21

לנכרי תשיך UNTO AN ALIEN THOU MAYEST LEND UPON INTEREST (according to Rashi: TO AN ALIEN THOU MAYEST PAY INTEREST) — but not to thy brother. Such a prohibition which is not plainly stated but can only be drawn by inference from a positive command is itself regarded only as a positive command — so that one who pays interest to his brother transgresses two negative commands: לא תשיך in v. 20, ולאחיך לא תשיך in v. 21 and a positive command לנכרי תשיך — ולאחיך לא (cf. Sifrei Devarim 263:1; Bava Metzia 70b; also cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 14:20).

לנכרי תשיך, you are allowed to pay interest to the gentile (on your loan from him) and you must not betray his trust by citing the prohibition to charge or collect interest.

לנכרי תשיך ולאחיך לא תשיך. "You may pay interest to a Gentile but you must not pay interest to your brother (the Jew)." Why did the Torah repeat here once more that we must not pay interest to a Jew when this had already been stated in verse 20? Our sages in Baba Metzia 75 say that the repetition is to teach that anyone doing this is guilty of the violation of two separate negative commandments. Perhaps the Torah meant here that although the interest you give to your fellow Jew ultimately goes to the Gentile, this is prohibited when the go-between is a Jew and the Jew does not know the Gentile in question either through having borrowed from him or through holding some kind of collateral belonging to the Gentile in question. This is also the halachah.

למען יברכך ה' אלוקיך, “in order that the Lord your G’d will bless you;” by doing a deed of loving kindness with one’s brother, such as helping him with an interest-free loan, one acquires the merit that qualifies one to receive a special blessing by Hashem. It is considered צדקה, i.e. the same as if one had actually handed over money as alms, as a contribution to a charitable institution. Foregoing repayment of overdue loans at the end of the last year of the sh’mittah cycle is also an act of charity a requirement that only applies to one’s fellow Jew, because he is to be treated as one’s brother. This is why Moses follows this legislation up with the specific permission, or even commandment, according to many authorities, to charge interest on loans to gentiles, and, of course, permission to pay interest if we need to get a loan from gentiles. It is interesting that the Torah promises special blessings from Hashem only in connection with abstaining from charging interest, not when refraining from stealing, robbing, or overcharging unwary customers.

לנכרי תשיך, “to the Gentile you may (or must) charge interest.” The prohibition of charging a Jewish borrower interest is at the same time a positive commandment to charge a Gentile interest on loans extended to him. Maimonides, in Hilchot malveh veloveh 5,1 rules that our verse is definitely a positive commandment, not merely permission to accept interest from a Gentile borrower. Others, such as Ibn Ezra, interpret our verse as merely granting permission to charge interest to Gentile borrowers. This statement is supposed to be similar to that of ששת ימים תעבוד, “during six days you are to work” (Exodus 20,9) which is a permission. The Torah permitted loans to Gentiles, and it permitted charging interest on those loans.
When the Talmud in Makkot 24 states that the words בספו לא נתן לנשך, “he has never lent money at interest” (Psalms 15,5) includes that the person referred to has not charged interest to a Gentile, this is not to be understood as a prohibition but is a voluntary restriction imposed upon himself by the lender. A person practicing such virtues will attain the spiritual level described as desirable in that psalm.
A statement by our sages in Baba Metzia 71 that it is forbidden to lend to a Gentile against excessive interest except if the lender was a Torah scholar, has to be understood against the following background. [The whole passage is strange, compare Rashi and Tossaphot. It is assumed that the Gentile had called the Jew “wicked,” had insulted him. Ed.]. Ordinary Jews may not charge an amount of interest which would reduce the income (net) of such a Gentile by more than a third. The restriction is designed to ensure that Jewish lenders do not learn bad habits from the Gentiles. Torah scholars are not presumed to copy such bad habits. When the Sifri writes that the words לנכרי תשיך are a positive commandment, the meaning is not that the Torah imposes an obligation on an Israelite to grant loans to, and to charge interest to Gentiles, but it addresses itself (obliquely) to the Israelite charging interest on a loan to a fellow Jew as also being guilty of violating a positive commandment, (not merely a negative commandment). The verse contrasts conduct vis-a-vis a Gentile with that towards an Israelite. The words “to a Gentile you must charge interest,” are a restatement of the prohibition not to do so to a fellow Israelite. It is something called לאו הבא מכלל עשה, “a negative commandment implied in a positive commandment.”
In a similar fashion we find that Sifri Re'ay 103 understands the commandment “these you may eat” dealing with permissible fish (Deut. 14,9) as meaning that all the fish not enumerated in that verse as possessing certain identifying marks such as fins and scales are forbidden for Jews to eat. The line: “these you may eat,” certainly does not mean: “these you must eat.” The Torah simply says that if we eat fish which do not have fins and scales we have violated a positive commandment called “these you may eat.” At the same time one has violated the negative commandment “these you must not eat,” which is appended to “all those which do not have, etc.” The same holds true for the commandment dealing with interest in our Parshah. Our sages interpret the words ולאחיך לו תשיך, “and to your brother you must not charge interest,“ as referring to people acting like your brother, i.e. including recent converts, people who have now become like your brother seeing they are bound by the same rules of conduct as your brothers. At the same time this phraseology excludes the descendants of Esau as, though they are biologically related, they do not adopt the rules of conduct of your brethren. Hence one may or must charge interest on loans made to Edomites. Although in Numbers 20,14 Moses had described the Jewish people as “your brothers,” when speaking to the Edomites, the legal status of these people changed after they demonstrated that they did not consider themselves as “brothers.” It became perfectly permissible to charge interest on loans to Edomites. There is a statement by the prophet Ovadiah 11 ”on that day when you stood aloof, when aliens carried off his goods, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were as one of them.” This underscores the point we just made.
The whole reason for the prohibition of charging interest is based on our obligation to keep fellow Jews alive, to relate to them with deeds of loving kindness seeing the Torah wrote וחי אחיך עמך, “ensure that your brother will be able to live alongside you” (Leviticus 25,36). No such directive exists concerning Gentiles. A Jew who has decided to practice idolatry is also not subject to the law not to charge interest on loans to him. Seeing that the Torah made it clear that such a person’s very body is unprotected by Biblical injunctions, his property is most certainly not protected by Torah law! We find confirmation of this in Avodah Zarah 26: “one may push drowning idolaters (Jews) down into the pit and one is not allowed to pull them up (in order to save their lives).” On the other hand, accepting loans from such people and paying interest on such loans is probably forbidden as opposed to natural born pagans. The reason is that the Jewish heretic was born with the obligation to conduct himself as Jew, whereas the same cannot be said of the natural born pagan. Our sages in Sifri Ha'azinu 308 interpret the word (Deut. 32,5) בניו מומם as meaning: “although they are blemished they are still His children;” in other words, loans accepted from such people are considered as loans extended by Jews. At the very least, if one accepts a loan from such a Jewish idolater one violates the negative commandment ולפני עור לא תתן מכשול, “do not place obstacles in the way of a blind person. “

So that he transgresses, for this, two negative commandments and one positive commandment. “You may not pay usury to your brother,” and, “To your brother you may not pay usury.” You might ask: There are three negative commandments, because it is written (Vayikra 19:14), “Before a blind person you shall not place a stumbling block.” The answer is that this negative commandment is a לאו שבכללות (a negative general commandment that includes many different things), because [besides the verse’s simple meaning] we expound from it, “Someone who is blind regarding some matter,” i.e., you should not give someone bad advice, and we do not give lashes for [violating] a לאו שבכללות. Alternatively, because they expound this as [also] meaning someone who was blind regarding some matter, they do not want to count it among the negative commandments [here]. Re”m explains that he transgresses two negative commandments, the negative command of “You may not pay usury to your brother,” and the negative commandment of “Before a blind person you shall not place, etc.” He discusses this there at length. But what I have written, so I have found.

V. 21. ספרי) קבע לו הכתוב ברכה בשליחת ידו :בכל משלח ידך) "Allem ist Segen verheißen, indem du es in die Hand nimmst". Nicht physische Ursachen reichen aus, um den Segen zu bewirken. Eine von der im Geiste dieser Gesetze gepflegten, Gott huldigenden Brüderlichkeit bei ihrem Tun und Schaffen geleitete Hand bringt den irdischen Dingen, die sie schafft und handhabt, den himmlischen Segen. —

לנכרי תשיך, “you may charge interest to gentiles.” (According to some authorities this is even a positive commandment. Maimonides and Sefer Hachinuch). All other nations are called gentiles when compared to the Israelites. Compare Ovadiah 11: ונכרים באו שעריו גם אתה כאחד מהם, “the gentile nations came to its gates, you were as one of them.” Compare also Judges: 19,12, and Solomon’s prayer in Kings I 8,41.

ולאחיך לא תשיך, even though according to the deal you made you obligated yourself to pay him interest and you are perfectly willing to pay same.

There is also an allusion here to a subject debated by the codifiers and later authorities in Yoreh Deyah 159. Some authorities, including Rabbi Joseph Karo, hold that extending loans to pagans is permitted only when the Jew finds it difficult to make a living without doing this even though there is general agreement that the Torah has permitted the practice. The wording לנכרי תשיך may be understood as "you may extend loans with interest to Gentiles, provided that as a result of this permission you will not ultimately charge interest on loans to Jews."

למען יברכך, in order that you will receive G’d’s blessing instead. By not desecrating G’d’s name in your dealings with the gentile by reneging, you will merit G’d’s blessing.