<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div id="yiv1190039037"><div id="yiv304527410"><div id="yiv408470064">R. Elazar M. Teitz wrote:<br>>>My father's chiddush was to point out that if halacha does not
recognize the legal fiction, then the borrowers are the citizens of the
Israel -- all of them -- for whom the government acts as elected
representatives. In that case, the amount of money borrowed must be
divided by the number of Israeli citizens. This works out to less than
a p'ruta per citizen, and for a loan of less than a p'ruta there is no
issur ribbis. <br><br>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.<br><br>HB: We know that one of the reasons the Dor Hamabul was punished (destroyed) was because of theft. They would engage in stealing less than the shiur amount that would make them liable for an aveira, but nonetheless it was stealing, and it was frowned upon by Hashem. Given this, why would we allow or set up a situation whereby potentially millions of Jews (Jewish Israeli citizens) would be oiver on the intent (if not the actual halacha) of a Lav Mi'Dioraisa, namely Ribis? <br>(Note: we allow someone to eat and drink on YKippur (less an a shiur at a time) in cases of need, but this is not lechatchila situation, it does not involve millions of Jews, and it is only approved on a case-by-case basis.) HB<br></div></div></div></td></tr></table>