📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi – Parshas Re’eh Shishi: The laws of Shemitas Kesafim

Shishi

1. The laws of Shemitas Kesafim:
   • “At the conclusion of the seventh year you are to perform a Shemita release. The following is the release that you are to do: You are to abolish all debts that you are owed. You are to no longer press your friend to pay back the loan. However, a gentile is to be pressed to pay what he owes.”

 

2. Poverty:
   • “No poor people if listen to Hashem: You will have no poor people amongst you as Hashem will bless you if you adhere His words. You will lend to nations and will not need to borrow from them and they will not rule over you.
   • Tzedaka to the poor: If there shall be a poor person from amongst you, you are to support him. Do not close your heart and hands from giving to your brother the pauper. You shall open your hands to him and grant him whatever he lacks.
   • Not to abstain from lending the poor because of Shemita: Beware, lest you tell yourself not to lend your destitute brother due to the approach of the Shemita. He will call out to Hashem against you and you will have sinned. You shall grant him a loan and not be of bad heart to abstain, as by doing so Hashem will grant you blessing in all that you do.
   • There will always be poor people: You will always have poor people amongst your land [if you disobey Hashem’s will], and therefore I am commanding you to support them.”

 

 

 

3. Laws relating to freeing a slave:
   • “Seventh year let free: If your brethren, a man or woman, are sold to you, the slave shall serve you for six years and is to be let free in the seventh year.
   • Severance pay: When you send him free, you are not to send him emptyhanded. Grant him presents from your flock and grains and wine, and from everything that Hashem has blessed you with. Remember, that you were once a slave in Egypt and Hashem redeemed you from there, and hence I too am now commanding you to do as stated above.
   • A slave who does not wish to leave: If the slave tells you that he does not wish to leave, as he likes his house and his dwelling with you. Then you shall take the awl and pierce his ear by the doorpost, and he is then to become an eternal slave. The same shall be done for a maidservant.”

 

Q&A on Rashi

 

📘 Rashi Q&A — Devarim 15:1–18

15:1–6 — Shemitat Kesafim (Release of Loans)

15:1

Q1. When must loans be released?

1. At the end of the seventh year of the Sabbatical cycle.

Q2. Does each loan receive its own seven-year term?

1. No. The release occurs according to the communal Shemitah cycle.

 

15:2

Q3. What is the nature of the release?

1. Creditors must relinquish collection of debts owed by fellow Jews.

Q4. What does “שמוט” mean?

1. Release one’s claim to the debt.

 

15:3

Q5. May repayment be demanded from a non-Jew?

1. Yes.

Q6. How does Rashi view this statement?

1. As a positive commandment.

 

15:4

Q7. Under what condition will there be no destitute among Israel?

1. When Israel fulfills Hashem’s will.

Q8. How does this fit with the verse that says poverty will never disappear?

1. If Israel obeys Hashem, poverty will not be among them; otherwise, it will.

Q9. What is an אביון?

1. A person poorer than an ordinary poor person, lacking even necessities.

 

15:5

Q10. What condition is attached to this blessing?

1. Obedience to Hashem’s commandments.

Q11. What does the doubled phrase “שמע תשמע” teach?

1. One who listens a little is given opportunities to listen and grow much more.

 

15:6

Q12. What national blessing is promised?

1. Israel will lend to many nations and not borrow.

Q13. Will Israel need to borrow in order to lend?

1. No.

Q14. What additional promise is given?

1. Israel will rule over nations and not be ruled by them.

 

📘 15:7–11 — Helping the Poor

15:7

Q15. Whose needs take priority?

1. The most needy person.

Q16. Which relative comes first?

1. A paternal brother before a maternal brother.

Q17. Which poor are helped first?

1. The poor of one’s own city.

Q18. What does “do not harden your heart” address?

1. Hesitation and emotional resistance to giving.

Q19. What does “do not close your hand” address?

1. Withdrawing after deciding to help.

Q20. What warning does Rashi find in “your destitute brother”?

1. One who refuses to help may eventually become poor himself.

 

15:8

Q21. What does the double expression “פתח תפתח” teach?

1. One must repeatedly give with an open heart and open hand.

Q22. What if the poor person refuses charity?

1. Provide assistance as a loan.

Q23. What does “די מחסורו” mean?

1. Supply what he lacks.

Q24. Must one make him wealthy?

1. No.

Q25. What examples does Rashi give?

1. Even a horse and servant if he was accustomed to them.

Q26. What does the word “לו” teach?

1. If needed, help him obtain a wife.

 

15:9

Q27. What bad thought is forbidden?

1. Refusing a loan because Shemitah is approaching.

Q28. Is it sinful even if the poor person never complains?

1. Yes.

Q29. Why mention that he may cry out?

1. Divine punishment comes faster when the victim cries out.

 

15:10

Q30. How often must one give?

1. As many times as needed.

Q31. How should charity ideally be given?

1. Privately, without embarrassing the recipient.

Q32. What reward comes even from promising to give?

1. Reward for the intention as well as the eventual act.

 

15:11

Q33. Why is the command to give repeated?

1. Because poverty will always exist somewhere.

Q34. What does Rashi call this command?

1. Advice for one’s own benefit.

Q35. To whom especially must one open his hand?

1. To his poor and needy brother.

 

📘 15:12–18 — The Hebrew Servant

15:12

Q36. How long does a Hebrew servant serve?

1. Six years.

Q37. In the seventh year what happens?

1. The servant goes free.

Q38. What new law is added here beyond Sefer Shemot?

1. A Hebrew maidservant also leaves after six years.

Q39. What second new law is added?

1. The servant receives a departure gift.

15:13–14

Q40. How may the servant not be sent away?

1. Empty-handed.

Q41. What is “הענק תעניק”?

1. Giving a substantial and recognizable parting gift.

Q42. From what may the gift come?

1. Flock, threshing floor, wine vat, and other forms of blessing.

Q43. Why are these examples listed?

1. To teach that gifts come from productive, blessing-bearing possessions.

Q44. What type of property is excluded?

1. Non-reproducing assets such as mules.

 

15:15

Q45. Why must the owner provide gifts?

1. Because Hashem generously redeemed Israel from Egypt.

Q46. What gifts did Hashem give Israel?

1. The spoils of Egypt and the spoils of the Sea.

 

15:16–17

Q47. Why might a servant refuse freedom?

1. Because he loves his master and life in that household.

Q48. What happens then?

1. His ear is pierced and he remains a servant until Yovel.

Q49. Does “forever” literally mean forever?

1. No. It means until the Jubilee year.

Q50. Is a female servant’s ear pierced?

1. No.

Q51. What does “you shall do likewise for your maidservant” mean?

1. She also receives the parting gift.

 

15:18

Q52. Why should the master not resent freeing the servant?

1. The servant provided labor worth twice that of a hired worker.

Q53. What extra labor did a Hebrew servant perform?

1. According to the Sages, he served both day and night through family obligations assigned by the master.

Q54. What blessing follows generous treatment of the servant?

1. Hashem will bless all the master’s endeavors.