✦ ❖ ✦ D A A T · L E V E L 3 — S Y N T H E S I S / R E V I E W ✦ ❖ ✦
Siman 159 — Lending at interest to a non-Jew and to an apostate
שמותר להלוות לעובד כוכבים ולמומר ברבית
Three seifim, and the opening of the laws of interest. What the Torah permits, what the Sages forbade and why it no longer holds; the apostate, to whom one lends without borrowing from him; the Kutim, the Karaites and the captive child
Structured review, ruling tables, rapid memorisation
Source: Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah קנ״ט — 3 seifim
Nossei kelim: ש״ך (8 ס״ק) · ט״ז (3 ס״ק) · באר היטב (7 ס״ק) · פתחי תשובה (7 ס״ק) · נקודות הכסף · בית יוסף · טור
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
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📑 Plan of the synthesis
- The axiom: interest is a prohibition of brotherhood
- The 3 reflex questions
- Master table — the three seifim clause by clause
- The twofold table: lending and borrowing
- The foundation: וחי אחיך עמך, and the Taz’s difficulty
- The decree and its abandonment: שמא ילמוד ממעשיו
- The apostate: two regimes for one man
- Kutim, Karaites, captive child
- The vocabulary of the block — from 159 to 177
- Golden rules, mnemonic, pitfalls and flash card
1. The axiom: interest is a prohibition of brotherhood
The starting point:
The verse does not say “do not take interest”. It says לא תשיך לאחיך — to your brother you shall not cause to bite — and at once adds לנכרי תשיך. The prohibition is therefore bounded by a relation, not by a transaction.
Hence the axiom: the whole question of siman 159 is who is still “your brother”. The three seifim are three ways of asking it, and seif 2 shows that the answer may be twofold for one and the same man.
The two verses that bound the relation:
And the Rambam, who draws both faces from them:
| The clause | What it rules out | What remains |
|---|
| דבר תורה מותר | A moral reading of interest | The transaction itself is not at issue |
| וחכמים אסרוהו | A financial reading of the decree | The decree targets association |
| והאידנא מותר | A timeless reading of the decree | A decree anchored in a state of affairs |
| ואסור ללוות ממנו ברבית | A binary reading of status | One man, two regimes |
💡 The marker: the word of this siman is not רבית but אחיך.
2. The 3 reflex questions
1. Who is on the other side? A non-Jew — seif 1. A Jew who has broken away — seif 2. A Jew who never knew — the gloss on seif 3.
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2. Which way does the money go? I lend and take the interest, or I borrow and pay it. Seif 2 answers the two differently.
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3. Which kind of interest is it? רבית קצוצה or אבק רבית? Seif 1 makes it one of the three exceptions; the Pithei Teshuva (ס״ק ד) leaves the question open for an apostate.
3. Master table — the three seifim clause by clause
| Clause of the seif | Who is speaking | What follows |
|---|
| דבר תורה מותר להלוות לעובד כוכבים ברבית | Mehaber | Torah law — and for the Rambam, a positive commandment |
| וחכמים אסרוהו | Mehaber | The decree, whose reason is שמא ילמוד ממעשיו |
| אם לא כדי חייו | Mehaber | First exception: livelihood |
| או לת״ח | Mehaber | Second exception: the talmid hakham |
| או ברבית דרבנן | Mehaber | Third exception: avak ribbit |
| והאידנא מותר | Mehaber | The decree no longer holds |
| בכל ענין | Parenthetical addition, referred to the Tur | Without reservation |
| מומר מותר להלוותו ברבית | Mehaber | One is not commanded to sustain him |
| ואסור ללוות ממנו ברבית | Mehaber | לא תשיך and לפני עור (Shakh ס״ק ג) |
| ויש מחמירין אף במומר להלוותו | Gloss (Mordekhai, Hagahot Maimoniyot, Maharil) | A stringency reported, not a ruling |
| וטוב להחמיר אם אפשר להשמט ממנו | Gloss | Counsel — and the Pithei Teshuva defines its scope |
| כותיים יש להם דין מומר לעבודת כוכבים | Mehaber | The Shakh (ס״ק ה) draws more from it |
| הקראים אין להם דין מומרים ואסור להלוותם ברבית | Mehaber | They are treated as brothers |
| ואין צריך לומר שאסור ללוות מהם ברבית | Mehaber | All the more so in the other direction |
| תינוק שנשבה לבין העובדי כוכבים … דינו כקראים | Gloss | The criterion is knowledge, not the label |
| שהבן הרי הוא כמוה ונקרא מומר אסור להלוות לו ברבית | Gloss (Mordekhai, perek HaHolets) | Called an apostate, treated as a captive child |
4. The twofold table: lending and borrowing
| The other party | Lending to him at interest | Borrowing from him at interest |
|---|
| Non-Jew — Torah law | Permitted | Permitted |
| Non-Jew — under the decree | Forbidden | Permitted — he flees his lender |
| Non-Jew — nowadays | Permitted | Permitted |
| Apostate | Permitted | Forbidden |
| Apostate — for those who are stringent | Yesh mahmirin | Forbidden |
| Kuti | Permitted | Shakh permits · Tiferet Tsvi forbids |
| Karaite | Forbidden | Forbidden |
| Captive child | Forbidden | Forbidden |
The right-hand column is not the mirror of the left. To lend, it suffices that the other not be “your brother”. To borrow, he must in addition not himself be bound by the prohibition — otherwise one makes him sin.
5. The foundation: וחי אחיך עמך, and the Taz’s difficulty
| Question | The Tur | The Taz |
|---|
| Where does the permission come from? | From not being commanded to sustain him | From the second וחי אחיך עמך, written after the prohibition |
| And the ger toshav, whom one must sustain? | — | He is included in the first occurrence, not the second |
| What becomes of the reason in seif 2? | It stands as it is | It stands, but on the second occurrence only |
6. The decree and its abandonment: שמא ילמוד ממעשיו
| Case | Does the decree reach it? | Why |
|---|
| Lending beyond one’s livelihood | Yes | Chosen association |
| Lending for one’s livelihood | No | He has no other means of living |
| A talmid hakham | No | He will not learn from his deeds |
| Avak ribbit | No | The Torah had forbidden nothing there |
| Borrowing from a non-Jew | No | The borrower flees his lender (Rambam) |
| Nowadays | No | All commerce is with them (Tur, Shakh, Taz) |
7. The apostate: two regimes for one man
| Figure | Lending at interest | According to |
|---|
| Apostate (the Mehaber’s position) | Permitted | Tur, Mehaber, Taz |
| Apostate — stringency reported | Yesh mahmirin | Mordekhai, Hagahot Maimoniyot, Raviah, Rashi, Semag, Maharil |
| Apostate in defiance who has not left the community | Do not lend | Bah, cited by the Shakh — who notes it is not compelling |
| Apostate who leaves the permitted and eats the forbidden | Permitted | Responsa of the Geonim, in the Rif’s name |
| Apostate out of appetite | Forbidden | Responsa of the Geonim, in the Rif’s name |
| One who follows the stringency | Does not lend at all | Pithei Teshuva ס״ק ד, in the name of the Tiferet Tsvi |
The most counter-intuitive line is the last: the stringency is not satisfied by an interest-free loan. It bears on entering the relation, not on the gain — רק לא ילוה כלל.
8. Kutim, Karaites, captive child
| Figure | The seif | The Shakh | The Pithei Teshuva |
|---|
| Kuti | Status of an apostate to idolatry | Full non-Jew, for leniency too | Stringent: one does not borrow from them |
| Karaite | Not the status of an apostate: one does not lend to them | The Rambam does not say so; the Maharshal permits | — |
| Captive child | Like the Karaites | כשוגג | — |
| Son of an apostate woman by a non-Jew | Called an apostate, yet one does not lend to him | Like the captive child | Radbaz: in case of doubt, be lenient |
| Son of an apostate by a non-Jewish woman | — | He is like his mother | — |
💡 The Nekudot HaKesef’s correction — the Shakh had written that he found nothing of the sort in the Rambam; his own notes point to the exact passage (הלכות ממרים פרק ג׳), and still conclude that the practical law remains in צ״ע.
9. The vocabulary of the block — from 159 to 177
| Term | What it denotes | Where it matters in this siman |
|---|
| רבית | Any increment given in return for time | The subject of the whole block |
| נשך ותרבית | The bite (payer’s side) and the increase (receiver’s side) | The two words of Leviticus |
| רבית קצוצה | Stipulated interest — a Torah prohibition | What the Sages forbade with a non-Jew (Rambam) |
| אבק רבית | What resembles it — a rabbinic prohibition | Third exception of seif 1 |
| כדי חייו | The lender’s livelihood | First exception of seif 1 |
| שמא ילמוד ממעשיו | The reason for the decree | It governs the three exceptions and the leniency |
| מומר | The Jew who has broken away | Seif 2 |
| מומר לתיאבון · מומר להכעיס | Out of appetite · in defiance | Shakh ס״ק ד, and the Geonim’s inversion |
| תינוק שנשבה | One who never knew | Gloss on seif 3 — he remains a brother |
| לפני עור לא תתן מכשול | Causing another to sin | Why one does not borrow from an apostate |
10. Golden rules, mnemonic, pitfalls and flash card
The 5 golden rules
- The prohibition follows brotherhood, not money. The verse says לאחיך, and everything follows.
- The Sages’ decree targets association, not gain. All three of its exceptions read that way.
- Lending and borrowing are not symmetrical. Lending requires the other to be outside; borrowing requires in addition that he not be bound.
- The label does not decide; knowledge does. The apostate woman’s son is נקרא מומר and yet follows the regime of the captive child.
- The Rema’s stringency bears on the loan, not on the interest. Pithei Teshuva ס״ק ד — he does not lend interest-free either.
Mnemonic — the word רבית
ר — רק באחיך: the prohibition binds only between brothers
ב — בכדי חייו: the threshold the Sages did not cross
י — ילמוד ממעשיו: the reason for the decree, and for its abandonment
ת — תינוק שנשבה: the one who remains your brother whatever he does not know
The 4 classic pitfalls
- Reading seif 1 as a permission to profit. The decree and its abandonment speak of association; the question of gain is never raised there.
- Thinking the apostate is “outside” for everything. He is outside as to the duty of sustaining him, not as to the prohibition of making him sin.
- Taking the gloss’s stringency for a ban on profit. The Pithei Teshuva shows that it forbids an interest-free loan as well.
- Referring to the wrong set of laws in the Rambam. Up to 158 it was הלכות עבודה זרה; from 159 on it is הלכות מלווה ולווה.
| Seif | In one line |
|---|
| 1 | The Torah permits lending at interest to a non-Jew; the Sages forbade it, except for livelihood, for a talmid hakham, or for rabbinic interest — and nowadays it is permitted in every case. |
| 2 | One lends to an apostate at interest but does not borrow from him at interest; some are stringent even about lending, and it is good to be so if one can avoid it. |
| 3 | The Kutim are treated as apostates to idolatry; the Karaites are not — one does not lend to them at interest, and all the more does one not borrow from them; and the same holds for the captive child and the apostate woman’s son. |
Flash card. לא תשיך לאחיך → לנכרי תשיך → וחכמים אסרוהו → שמא ילמוד ממעשיו → כדי חייו · ת״ח · רבית דרבנן → והאידנא מותר → מומר : להלוות מותר, ללוות אסור → כותיים → קראים → תינוק שנשבה.
🎓 Recap of the study path