Study Bava Metzia folio 75A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הלויני כור חטין וקוצץ לו דמים, הוזלו – נותן לו חטים, הוקרו – נותן דמיהם.
Lend me a kor of wheat, and the lender may set a price for him, stating that the borrower must repay the wheat in the future according to the value of wheat at the time of the loan. If, by the time the borrower must repay the loan, the wheat depreciates in value, he gives the lender a quantity of wheat equivalent to what he borrowed, and if it appreciates, he gives the value of the wheat he borrowed as per the market rate when he borrowed it, as agreed, but no more.
והלא קצץ! אמר רב ששת: הכי קאמר. אם לא קצץ – הוזלו – נוטל חטיו. הוקרו – נותן דמיהם.
The Talmud questions this ruling: If the price of wheat depreciates, why should it be permitted for the borrower to pay him with wheat worth less than the value of the amount he borrowed? But he fixed a price at the time of the loan, and therefore the borrower owes him this amount of money. Rav Sheshet said: This is what the tanna is saying: If the lender did not set a price but merely lent him wheat, and it depreciates in value, the lender takes his wheat, as they did not agree that the borrower must repay the wheat according to its value at the time that the loan was taken out. But if it appreciates in value, the borrower gives the value of the wheat he borrowed as per the market rate when he borrowed it, in order to avoid the payment of interest.
מתני׳ לא יאמר אדם לחבירו: הלויני כור חטין ואני אתן לך לגורן. אבל אומר לו: הלויני עד שיבא בני או עד שאמצא מפתח. והלל אוסר. וכן היה הלל אומר: לא תלוה אשה ככר לחברתה עד שתעשיה דמים, שמא יוקרו חטין, ונמצאו באות לידי רבית.
Mishnah: A person may not say to another: Lend me a kor of wheat and I will give it back to you at the time the wheat is brought to the granary, as the wheat may increase in value, which would mean that when he gives him back a kor of wheat at the time the wheat is brought to the granary it is worth more than the value of the loan, and he therefore will have paid interest. But he may say to him: Lend me a kor of wheat for a short period of time, e.g., until my son comes or until I find the key, as there is no concern about a change in price during such a short interval of time. And Hillel prohibits the practice even in this case. And Hillel would similarly say: A woman may not lend a loaf of bread to another unless she establishes its monetary value, lest the wheat appreciate in value before she returns it, and they will therefore have come to transgress the prohibition of interest.