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Zev Sero wrote;</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted0">On 20/3/23 16:58, Prof. L. Levine wrote:</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">> The second element of American Bankruptcy is ?fresh start,? which makes</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">> it unnecessary to make payments (?discharge?) beyond those prescribed by</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">> the bankruptcy court.? Talmudic Halacha does not recognize fresh start.</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">> If someone originally lacks funds but acquires them later, he must pay</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">> past debts using new assets.</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted0">Read the rest of the article. Talmudic halacha is not necessarily the</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">operative law in this case. Dina Demalchusa is likely operative, and if</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">so it is arguably (and I would so argue) not even midas chassidus to pay</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0">the discharged debts, unless there was a clear understanding between the</div>
<div class="ContentPasted0 elementToProof">parties that they would follow Dinei Yisrael and not Dina Demalchusa.</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted0 elementToProof">WADR I suggest your read the article at</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted0 elementToProof ContentPasted1"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html" id="LPlnk347965">https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html</a></div>
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<span class="ContentPasted2" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">Bankruptcy - A Viable Halachic Option?</span><span class="ContentPasted2" style="font-weight: normal;">
<h4><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">INTRODUCTION </span></h4>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">American bankruptcy law offers people the opportunity to avoid repaying their debts, even if they later become wealthy. This is accomplished by granting debtors a "discharge" of their debt, which permanently
eliminates their legal responsibility to pay. Debtors are increasingly seizing this opportunity. In calendar year 1991, almost a million bankruptcy petitions were filed in the United States alone.
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Obtaining a bankruptcy discharge raises serious halachic problems. First, halacha requires repayment of debt. Second, halacha generally prohibits litigation between Jews in secular courts. This Article
explores whether, despite these obstacles, Jewish debtors may take advantage of a bankruptcy discharge.</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">PART I: HALACHIC IMPORTANCE OF PAYING ONE'S DEBT
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<p class="ContentPasted3 elementToProof"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">Halacha considers the repayment of debt to Jewish creditors as a moral and religious imperative. Most authorities agree that the payment of one's debts is an affirmative
biblical commandment.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_3" class="ContentPasted3" data-loopstyle="link"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>3</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaCohen (the "Chafetz Chaim")</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_4" class="ContentPasted3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>4</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
states that if a debtor who can pay refuses to do so, he also violates a negative biblical commandment not to oppress ("lo sa'ashok") his neighbor.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_5" class="ContentPasted3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>5</sup></span></a></span></p>
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<p class="ContentPasted3 elementToProof"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">The Mishna declares someone in any of four categories is called an Evildoer ("Rasha").</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_6" class="ContentPasted3" data-loopstyle="link"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>6</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
Quoting David HaMelech,</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_7" class="ContentPasted3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>7</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
it says that one of these is a person who borrows but, although financially able, does not repay. To such persons the sages apply the verse "[t]hose who acquire wealth in violation of halacha, in mid-life
</span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;"><u class="ContentPasted3">it(they) will leave them(it)</u></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">" (Emphasis added). The phrase "it(they) will leave them(it)" has two meanings. Sometimes
the wealth ("it") leaves the people ("them") - </span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;"><i class="ContentPasted3">i.e.</i></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">, the people become impoverished while still young. In other
instances, the people ("they") leave the wealth ("it") - by dying prematurely.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_8" class="ContentPasted3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>8</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
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<p class="ContentPasted3 elementToProof"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">There is no halachic equivalent to a bankruptcy discharge.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/bankruptcy.html#Note_9" class="ContentPasted3" data-loopstyle="link"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><sup>9</sup></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;">
Instead, if property collected from a debtor is not sufficiently valuable to pay off his debts, the debtor remains personally liable for any unpaid amounts. If and when the debtor acquires additional assets, he is obligated to pay, and this obligation is enforceable
by rabbinic court ("bais din"). <br>
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<p class="ContentPasted3 elementToProof"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt;" class="elementToProof">Professor Yitzchok Levine<br>
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