Study Makkot folio 3B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואף על גב דהשתא לא קרינן ביה ״לא יגש״, סוף אתי לידי ״לא יגש״.
And even though now, during the Sabbatical Year, we do not yet read concerning his loan the prohibition: “He should not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because YHWH’s release has been proclaimed” (Deuteronomy 15:2), as the time for repayment has not yet arrived, ultimately, when the time for repayment arrives, he will come to a situation where the prohibition “He should not exact it” applies. Therefore, like all other debts it is abrogated by the Sabbatical Year.
מתיב רב כהנא: אומדים כמה אדם רוצה ליתן ויהיו אלף זוז בידו בין ליתן מכאן ועד שלשים יום, ובין ליתן מכאן ועד עשר שנים. ואי אמרת שביעית משמטתו – כולהו נמי בעי שלומי ליה!
Rav Kahana raises an objection from the Mishnah: Rather, the court estimates how much money a person would be willing to give so that he would keep a loan of 1,000 dinars in his possession, and one calculates the difference between that sum in a situation where he would be required to give the money back from now until 30 days have passed, and that same sum in a situation where he would be required to give the money back from now until 10 years have passed. And if you say that the Sabbatical Year abrogates a 10-year loan, the conspiring witnesses need to pay the borrower the entire sum of the loan as well, as their testimony sought to render the borrower liable to pay a debt that by right should be entirely forgiven.
אמר רבא: הכא במאי עסקינן – במלוה על המשכון, ובמוסר שטרותיו לבית דין. דתנן: המלוה על המשכון, והמוסר שטרותיו לבית דין – אין משמיטין.
Rava said: What are we dealing with here in our Mishnah? We are dealing with debts that are not abrogated with the passing of the Sabbatical Year, e.g., in the case of one who lends money on the basis of collateral, or in the case of one who transfers his promissory notes to the court for collection. As we learned in a Mishnah (Shevi’it 10:2): In the cases of one who lends money on the basis of collateral and one who transfers his promissory notes to the court for collection, the Sabbatical Year does not abrogate those loans. In those cases, the debt would not have been forgiven during the Sabbatical Year. Therefore, the conspiring witnesses are not liable to pay the entire sum.