The Prozbul ( he, פרוזבול of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

origin; i.e. προσβολή, proz=Institution bouli= "Rich") was established in the waning years of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Hillel the Elder Hillel ( he, הִלֵּל ''Hīllēl''; variously called ''Hillel HaGadol'', ''Hillel HaZaken'', ''Hillel HaBavli'' or ''HaBavli'', was born according to tradition in Babylon c. 110 BCE, died 10 CE in Jerusalem) was a Jewish religious leader, s ...

. The writ, issued historically by rabbis, technically changed the status of individual private loans into the public administration, allowing the poor to receive interest-free loans before the

Sabbatical year A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

while protecting the investments of the lenders.

Historical background

The

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

mandates a Sabbatical year, ''

Shmita The sabbath year (shmita; he, שמיטה, literally "release"), also called the sabbatical year or ''shǝvi'it'' (, literally "seventh"), or "Sabbath of The Land", is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah ...

,'' every seventh year (not to be confused with the Jubilee, which is the year following seven cycles of Shmita). Among other things, the departure of the Sabbatical year cancels all debts. This is one of the many laws in the Torah meant to protect the poor and disadvantaged, affording them a chance to escape from eternal debt. Conversely, the law harmed the lenders who would never be reimbursed once the Sabbatical year ended to remit all debts. The wealthy refused to loan money during the latter years of the seven-year cycle, refusing the poor even a temporary opportunity to make ends meet.

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 In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

'', Torah commandments, that require magnanimity to the poor, including one within the aforementioned passage in Deuteronomy. The rabbis, under the suggestion of

, created a

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow ver ...

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

, in which a legal document would accompany the interest-free loans (charging interest to fellow Jews is 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. The last chapter of Tractate Shevi'it, chapter 10, in the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

and the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

, details the ''prozbul'' legal instrument and specifies how it is drawn up in a court when the loan is made.

Significance

The practice of the ''prozbul'' was groundbreaking and controversial. “Later ''

Amoraim ''Amoraim'' (Aramaic: plural or , singular ''Amora'' or ''Amoray''; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachi ...

'' expressed their astonishment at the fact that Hillel dared to abrogate the

Mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

institution of the release of all debts every seventh year”.Greenstone, Julius H.
Prosbul
'. Jewish Encyclopedia. 2002, accessed May 15, 2007. There is a major debate in the Talmud whether rabbis have the authority to uproot from the Torah

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

Yevamot 89b-90b and the issue of ''prozbul'' is one of the first examples of this debate being tested. Certain rabbis claim that the Jubilee year is commanded by the Torah only when the majority of Jews are based in the Land of Israel . Thus, when they are dispersed around the world, ''shmita'', like certain other laws, would not be required by the Torah. According to these rabbis, the Great

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin ( Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , '' synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as " rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temp ...

enacted their own law that while in the Land of Israel Jews must continue to observe ''shmita'' so its observance will not be forgotten (prior to the entire Jewish people's eventual return to the land of Israel). Thus, if one would agree that ''shmita'' does not apply when Israelites are dispersed,Truth about document called the prozbul
/ref> Hillel, great as he was, would not have changed a law of the Torah in order to fit the needs of his time. He and his ''

beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

'' would have enacted a rabbinic exception to a rabbinic law. As the

Rambam Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...

notes in ''Shmita V'Yovel'' chapter 9, when most Jews again live in the Land of Israel and the observance of the

Sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of '' shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According ...

and Jubilee years are Toraitic commandments, the ''prozbul'' will no longer be able to be used. According to this theory, ''Prozbul'', like '' `eruv'', is a rabbinic exception to a rabbinic enactment. ''Prozbul'' cannot be used to get around the Torah commanded ''

shmita The sabbath year (shmita; he, שמיטה, literally "release"), also called the sabbatical year or ''shǝvi'it'' (, literally "seventh"), or "Sabbath of The Land", is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah ...

'' and '' yovel'', just as ''`eruv'' cannot be used to get around the fact that Torah prohibited carrying in the public domain.

External links

Etymology of "prozbul"

References

{{Reflist Jewish courts and civil law Jewish law Legal fictions

Historical background

Rabbinic response

Significance

See also

External links

References