[Avodah] Currency and Bond Trading; Ribis

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 04:26:25PM -0800, Harvey Benton wrote:
: R. Elazar M. Teitz wrote:
:> Thus, mah nafshach: either there is no Jewish
:> borrower at all, or each borrower borrows less than a p'ruta. Either
:> way, a hetter iska is unnecessary.
: 
: We know that one of the reasons the Dor Hamabul was punished (destroyed)
: was because of theft...

Theft is chamas, inherently wrong.

If ribis were inherently wrong, it would be assur to charge nachriim as
well. I therefore would argue that ribis isn't a lack of tzedeq or din,
but a lack of achdus of kelal Yisrael. As the pasuq says, "Vekhi yamukh
ACHIKHA umatah yado..." And similarly after the ribis, "vechai ACHIKHA
imakh". (Vayiqra 25:36, lefi BM 62a) The problem isn't that it's unjust,
but that it's unbrotherly.

This may also explain why ribis is in YD, not CM.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
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