עָ֭שִׁיר בְּרָשִׁ֣ים יִמְשׁ֑וֹל וְעֶ֥בֶד לֹ֝וֶ֗ה לְאִ֣ישׁ מַלְוֶֽה׃
Bogaty nad ubogimi panuje, a jest dłużnik sługą wierzyciela.
Rabbeinu Bahya
אם כסף תלוה את עמי, “when you lend money to My people, etc.” Proverbs 21,14 extols the virtue of people doing charity anonymously. Solomon says: מתן בסתר יכפה אף, “a gift in secret pacifies anger.” On the other hand, ושוחד בחיק חמה עזה, “a bribe in private makes G’d very angry.” Solomon set out to extol the virtue of people practicing the attribute of charity which deflects many problems which we might otherwise have to face and which altogether cancels negative decrees if such charity is practiced with discretion. The ideal way of fulfilling the concept to give charity anonymously is to ensure that the recipient is unaware of the donor and the donor remains unaware of who the recipient of his charity is. This avoids embarrassment to both parties. It is well known that there are eight different ways of giving charity (as listed in Maimonides’ tractate of Matanot La-aniyim chapter 10). These eight variants represent eight different levels of piety in ascending order.
The lowest form of giving charity is to respond to a direct request by the recipient while making plain that one gives reluctantly.
The next higher level is that one gives gladly in response to such a direct appeal but one does not give adequately.
The third level is to give to the poor person before he has a chance to actually ask for the handout.
The fourth level is to give to the poor in such a way that he knows from whom he receives but the donor does not know who the recipient is. This is the level employed by many scholars in the period of the Talmud who dispensed charity by letting the coins drop behind their prayer shawls as they were walking the streets. The poor would pick it up. The scholars did not disdain contact with the poor but they wanted to remain unaware of the identify of the recipients.
The fifth level involves people who are aware of who receives their money but the recipient is not aware of who the donor is. This was a method of people known as חסידי עליון, (definition found in Maimonides describing very pious individuals). These people would throw their contributions into the doorways of the recipients’ houses.
The sixth level of dispensing charity is to preserve the mutual anonymity of both donor and recipient. This is what can be described as performing a commandment for its own sake. This was the purpose of the collection boxes in the Holy Temple into which donations were thrown which eventually were distributed by officials appointed for the purpose (compare Shekalim 5,6).
Nowadays contributions to a charity fund administered by trustees who keep the names of the recipients a secret are of a similar level. This level of charity is capable of warding off impending disasters. This is what Solomon was talking about in Proverbs 21,14 and 17,8. This level is precisely the reverse of what Solomon described in that latter verse, i.e. bribing someone secretly in order to pervert the course of justice. The positive message of Solomon’s statement is that if someone deprives himself of part of his wealth by giving it to charity, this very deprivation is what keeps away disaster that had already been lurking around the corner for him. As a result of his good deed he can turn in any direction and be successful. Solomon tells us that he who imagines that he will profit by bribing someone secretly to pervert justice in his favor will ultimately deprive himself as he thereby angered G’d exceedingly. To sum up: what may be perceived as a financial setback at first glance, i.e. the giving away of money, will in fact turn out to have been the cause of financial gain while the reverse is the case when one thought one had profited by illegal and deceptive ways.
The eighth method of performing the commandment of charity, the most laudable of them all, is to extend a loan to the needy; a person who receives a loan has no cause to feel embarrassed or to lose his self-respect as the one extending the loan has proved to him that he thinks he will be repaid. This is why the Torah legislates in our verse that it is a positive commandment to extend such loans. Our sages have stated unequivocally that the word אם in this verse is not conditional but an exhortation similar to Exodus 20,28 where the Torah introduces the law not to use iron tools to build an altar with the word אם. Similarly, the word אם in Exodus 21,30 אם כופר יושת עליו does not mean “if an atonement payment has been assessed against him,” but “when an atonement payment has been assessed against him.”
The meaning of our verse then is: “when you extend loans of money to fellow Jews, certain categories of people enjoy priority claims to such loans.” The words את עמי, for instance, mean that if a Jew has a good friend who is a Gentile and a fellow Jew whom he hardly knows who both request a loan then the Jew takes precedence if he is unable to extend loans to both men. The words את העני עמך mean that if a request for a loan is received by the same party from a wealthy Jew and from a poor Jew, the request from the poor Jew takes precedence. Similarly, a local Jew’s request takes precedence over that by a Jew from a different town. This is based on the meaning of the word עמך, i.e. the one who resides with you, near you.
The words את העני, mean “with the poor,” i.e. if someone who is in a position to extend a loan refuses to do so he may wind up poor himself, i.e. “the poverty will be with you” (compare Tanchuma Mishpatim section 15). The words לא תהיה לו כנושה, “do not be to him like a creditor,” mean “do not behave as if the recipient of the loan is socially inferior to you because he is in your debt.” The typical relationship between lender and borrower has been described in Proverbs 22,7 as “the borrower is a slave to the lender.” The Torah deplores this and forbids lenders to behave in that fashion. The words לא תשים עליו נשך, ”do not impose interest upon him,” refer to interest in its various forms whether as monetary payments, food, or in any other form (compare Deut. 23,20). The loan is supposed to be an act of loving kindness; one is not even to exploit it in order to secure some intangible advantage such as receiving honours not normally accruing to one. Even being greeted first by the borrower is considered such an intangible form of prohibited interest. This is why in Deuteronomy Moses added the words כל דבר, “in any shape or form.” (compare Baba Metzia 75).
The lowest form of giving charity is to respond to a direct request by the recipient while making plain that one gives reluctantly.
The next higher level is that one gives gladly in response to such a direct appeal but one does not give adequately.
The third level is to give to the poor person before he has a chance to actually ask for the handout.
The fourth level is to give to the poor in such a way that he knows from whom he receives but the donor does not know who the recipient is. This is the level employed by many scholars in the period of the Talmud who dispensed charity by letting the coins drop behind their prayer shawls as they were walking the streets. The poor would pick it up. The scholars did not disdain contact with the poor but they wanted to remain unaware of the identify of the recipients.
The fifth level involves people who are aware of who receives their money but the recipient is not aware of who the donor is. This was a method of people known as חסידי עליון, (definition found in Maimonides describing very pious individuals). These people would throw their contributions into the doorways of the recipients’ houses.
The sixth level of dispensing charity is to preserve the mutual anonymity of both donor and recipient. This is what can be described as performing a commandment for its own sake. This was the purpose of the collection boxes in the Holy Temple into which donations were thrown which eventually were distributed by officials appointed for the purpose (compare Shekalim 5,6).
Nowadays contributions to a charity fund administered by trustees who keep the names of the recipients a secret are of a similar level. This level of charity is capable of warding off impending disasters. This is what Solomon was talking about in Proverbs 21,14 and 17,8. This level is precisely the reverse of what Solomon described in that latter verse, i.e. bribing someone secretly in order to pervert the course of justice. The positive message of Solomon’s statement is that if someone deprives himself of part of his wealth by giving it to charity, this very deprivation is what keeps away disaster that had already been lurking around the corner for him. As a result of his good deed he can turn in any direction and be successful. Solomon tells us that he who imagines that he will profit by bribing someone secretly to pervert justice in his favor will ultimately deprive himself as he thereby angered G’d exceedingly. To sum up: what may be perceived as a financial setback at first glance, i.e. the giving away of money, will in fact turn out to have been the cause of financial gain while the reverse is the case when one thought one had profited by illegal and deceptive ways.
The eighth method of performing the commandment of charity, the most laudable of them all, is to extend a loan to the needy; a person who receives a loan has no cause to feel embarrassed or to lose his self-respect as the one extending the loan has proved to him that he thinks he will be repaid. This is why the Torah legislates in our verse that it is a positive commandment to extend such loans. Our sages have stated unequivocally that the word אם in this verse is not conditional but an exhortation similar to Exodus 20,28 where the Torah introduces the law not to use iron tools to build an altar with the word אם. Similarly, the word אם in Exodus 21,30 אם כופר יושת עליו does not mean “if an atonement payment has been assessed against him,” but “when an atonement payment has been assessed against him.”
The meaning of our verse then is: “when you extend loans of money to fellow Jews, certain categories of people enjoy priority claims to such loans.” The words את עמי, for instance, mean that if a Jew has a good friend who is a Gentile and a fellow Jew whom he hardly knows who both request a loan then the Jew takes precedence if he is unable to extend loans to both men. The words את העני עמך mean that if a request for a loan is received by the same party from a wealthy Jew and from a poor Jew, the request from the poor Jew takes precedence. Similarly, a local Jew’s request takes precedence over that by a Jew from a different town. This is based on the meaning of the word עמך, i.e. the one who resides with you, near you.
The words את העני, mean “with the poor,” i.e. if someone who is in a position to extend a loan refuses to do so he may wind up poor himself, i.e. “the poverty will be with you” (compare Tanchuma Mishpatim section 15). The words לא תהיה לו כנושה, “do not be to him like a creditor,” mean “do not behave as if the recipient of the loan is socially inferior to you because he is in your debt.” The typical relationship between lender and borrower has been described in Proverbs 22,7 as “the borrower is a slave to the lender.” The Torah deplores this and forbids lenders to behave in that fashion. The words לא תשים עליו נשך, ”do not impose interest upon him,” refer to interest in its various forms whether as monetary payments, food, or in any other form (compare Deut. 23,20). The loan is supposed to be an act of loving kindness; one is not even to exploit it in order to secure some intangible advantage such as receiving honours not normally accruing to one. Even being greeted first by the borrower is considered such an intangible form of prohibited interest. This is why in Deuteronomy Moses added the words כל דבר, “in any shape or form.” (compare Baba Metzia 75).
Ramban
THOU SHALT NOT BE TO HIM AS AN EXACTOR — that is, a creditor. He is saying that the lender should not behave to the borrower like a creditor who is a sort of lord over the borrower, as it is written, and the borrower is a servant to the lender,320Proverbs 22:7. but instead you should behave to him exactly as if he had never borrowed from you; neither shall you lay upon him interest, whether interest of money, interest of victuals.321Deuteronomy 23:20. Rather, the loan to him should be an act of goodness; you should not take from him any mark of honor because of it, nor are you to derive any monetary benefit from it.
Chizkuni
הוא יהיה לראש, “he shall become the head;” this is based on Proverbs 22,7, עבד לוה לאיש מלוה, “the borrower is a slave to the lender.”