<div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 1, 2008 8:38 AM, Michael Makovi <<a href="mailto:mikewinddale@gmail.com">mikewinddale@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">However, see what I posted in the lashon hara thread, with the quote<br>from Rav Epstein's book, that Chazal looked down on charging interest
<br>to a gentile, and in fact Rabbinically prohibited it, and Tosafot's<br>justification for why we no longer follow that prohibition (viz. high<br>taxes paid to gentile authorities precluded not charging interest).<br>
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<div>Look at the Gemara (BM 70a-b) and Tosafos (70a d"h Tashich). It is clear that the issur d'rabbanan is not because Chazal looked down upon charging interest, but because they discouraged any business interaction with non-Jews, because of shema yilmod mimaasav. For this reason, the Gemara says that a talmid chacham may lend to a non-Jew with interest. The other hetter given by the gemara is k'dei chayav. I submit (based loosely on Rashi) that the reason for this hetter is that a limitation of k'dei chayav will prevent the excessive contact with its destructive opportunities. Tosafos says that since the tax burden in their time was so heavy, all business was k'dei chayav.
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">It would be interesting then, to do a heter iska with a gentile. The<br>Gemara offers that it is permissible to pay interest to a gentile,
<br>just not charge, so perhaps no heter iska would be needed if he wanted<br>to charge you interest. That's fortunate, because it would certainly<br>be an interesting thing: go to a bank to take out a loan, and ask the
<br>bank employee to sign an Aramaic document permitting you to pay him<br>interest.<br></blockquote>
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<div>Hetter iska has never been used with non-Jews, and in fact makes no sense to use. It is a loophole to avoid technical ribbis, and for the investor/lender to still earn money. With non-Jews the issue is not technical ribbis, it's the social interaction involved. A technical loophole accomplishes nothing. And the fact that we are noheg to do business with non-Jews is a clear proof that the hetter of Tosafos (et al) has been accepted.
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<div>KT,</div>
<div>Michael</div></div>