[Avodah] Ribbis from non-Jews (was: LH about non-Jews)

[Elazar M. Teitz]

RMikha'el Makovi writes: 

> Actually, it is forbidden by the Torah to take interest from a
> gentile. The Torah permits interest to a nochri, which, as the Hertz
> Chumash teaches, is a gentile passing through the land, not an
> inhabitant.  

     WADR to the Hertz chumash, it is explicit in the g'mara (Bava M'tzia 72a) that one is permitted to take interest even from a ger toshav, who is hardly a "gentile passing through the land."  Indeed, according to most rishonim, it is a mitzva to charge the goy (though not the ger toshav), but Chazal restricted it to only what is necessary for sustenance, so as to prevent the Jew from coming into too close contact with his debtor and learning from his actions "b'rov y'shivaso imo" -- hardly the description of a transient association. (See, e.g., Rambam Malveh v'Loveh 5:1-2.) 

EMT
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