Musar su Proverbi 28:8

HATING RABBANUT: Hating Rabbanut (authority over others) and fleeing from honor: This is an explicit Mishna (Avot 1:10): "love work, hate Rabbanut". They further said: "One whose heart is frivolous in handing down rulings is a fool, wicked and arrogant" (Avot 4:7), and "whoever chases after honor, honor flees from him" (Eruvin 13b), and "'Do not go out quickly to quarrel (Riv)' (Mishlei 25:8) - do not run after rulership, Why not? [the verse continues:] 'for what will you do in the end' (ibid), the next day people will put questions to you, and what will you answer them?" (Pesikta Rabati 22:4);

At the head of all the detriments to humility is foolishness and lack of true knowledge. You can observe that arrogance is found most prevalently among those who are most foolish.

And our sages, of blessed memory, said "a sign of arrogance is poverty of Torah" (Sanhedrin 24a). And likewise they said: "a sign of not knowing anything is self-praise" (Zohar Balak 49b); and "one coin in a pitcher cries out 'rattle, rattle'" (Bava Metzia 85b); and "the barren trees were asked: 'why are your voices heard?' they replied: 'would that it were that our voices will be heard and we will be remembered'" (Bereishis Raba 16:3).

To quote the Talmud verbatim: "We read in Proverbs 28,8 that 'he who increases his wealth through interest and usury only gathers in for him who is gracious to the needy.' Who is meant by 'the one who is gracious to the needy?' Rav says it is someone like King Shevor [since the money eventually will wind up in the king's treasury]. Rabbi Nachman says that he was told by Rav Hunna that it applies to someone who charged interest to a Gentile [for he will ultimately not benefit thereby]. This statement is challenged by Rava who questions the meaning of the word לנכרי תשיך, suggesting that it means: "you must charge interest,” only to be answered that the meaning is" "you must pay interest." Thereupon the Talmud queries whether it is conceivable that the Torah wishes to encourage us to take loans from Gentiles and to pay them interest?! The Talmud answers that the verse tells us not to pay interest to a fellow Jew. The Talmud counters that we already have an explicit statement governing this eventuality in Deut. 23,21: "You must not charge interest to your brother!" The Talmud answers that the reason the Torah writes two verses on the same subject is to make us culpable for violating both a positive and a negative commandment when charging interest to a fellow Jew.

Tossaphot also elaborate on this segment of the discussion in the Talmud. They understand that the Talmud's question לא סגי דלאו הכי, "isn't it sufficient that you must not collect interest from the Gentile?" means that the Torah tells us we should even pay him interest when borrowing from him? The prohibition to loan him without interest is based on Deut. 7,2 "do not give them any gifts" (Avodah Zarah 20). the Torah adds that one must lend the Gentiles money only against interest so as to weaken them economically. Should you ask why the Talmud chose to raise this query from the verse of Proverbs 28,8, seeing that that verse is only the basis for a Rabbinic injunction namely to prevent people from learning from the ways of the Gentiles? The answer is that since the Torah writes that one should charge a Gentile interest on his loan, the Rabbis felt that they could not countermand the Torah. By referring to the verse in Mishley however, the sages felt justified in banning a practice that appeared already to have been forbidden by a decree of Solomon. The reason for the prohibition of loaning to the Gentiles was to discourage trade with them and learning from their amoral ways. So far Tossaphot.