[Avodah] The Sacred Shekel

Prof. L. Levine llevine at stevens.edu
Mon Mar 20 13:58:22 PDT 2023


Zev Sero wrote on 3/17/2023

>Bankruptcy is not dishonest. It is a law that all modern governments
>have made, for a very good purpose, ("letakanat hamedina" which is one
>of the criteria the poskim use to determine what is a legitimate dina
>demalchusa), and effectively abolishing it among Jews would tend to
>undermine that purpose, so it's not necessarily a good standard even for
>midas chassidus.

>From https://www.torahmusings.com/2019/11/bankruptcy-in-halacha/
Bankruptcy in Halacha

The second element of American Bankruptcy is “fresh start,” which makes it unnecessary to make payments (“discharge”) beyond those prescribed by the bankruptcy court.  Talmudic Halacha does not recognize fresh start. If someone originally lacks funds but acquires them later, he must pay past debts using new assets.


See the above URL for more.


This last paragraph is exactly what Rav Schwab told the man who now wanted to give a large donation to his yeshiva, namely, now that he has the money, he has to pay those to whom he owed money.


Professor Yitzchok Levine







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