ERASING OUR DEBTS FROM G-D'S BOOKS
Reeh
On Erev Rosh Hashona this year we made a Pruzbul, in accordance with the ruling of the Alter Rebbe that the Pruzbul should be made on the eve of the Shemittah year, rather than at its end.
In a number of years, after making a Pruzbul, the Rebbe would give a Brocha that just as we have made a Pruzbul down here, may Hashem not make a Pruzbul Above.
What is the meaning of this Brocha?
The Shemittah year cancels out debts. This applies in Eretz Yisroel and Chutz Laaretz alike. Today the force of this Mitzvah is only Rabbinic. The cancellation only takes effect at the end of the year, but already from Rosh Hashona one may no longer demand repayment.
When Hillel saw that lenders were hesitant and refusing to lend money (in violation of the Torah’s warning), he instituted a halachic remedy referred to as a Pruzbul. By handing one’s loans to the Beis Din and stating either verbally or in writing I am giving my loans to you that I may collect them whenever I desire, they are no longer cancelled out by Shemittah and may be collected at a later date.
We are all borrowers
Pirkei Avos (3:16) teaches; the store is open and the storekeeper extends on credit the ledger is open and the hand records. Whoever wishes to borrow let them come and borrow.
A loan has 2 key features. Unlike an item which is borrowed where the actual object must be returned, a loan may be spent the borrower sees fit. But a loan is not a gift and must eventually be repaid.
Hashem gives us all of our blessings on credit; our health, our wealth and our children. These are on loan to us and we are free to decide how we will use them. But eventually the loan needs to be paid back in full.
We repay Hashem’s blessing for children by raising and educating our children to be dedicated to Hashem and keeping His Torah and Mitzvos. Our blessing for life and good health is repaid by using our time to the fullest in serving Hashem. The blessing of wealth and sustenance is repaid through giving Tzedakah.
The month of Elul is referred to as the Chodesh Hacheshbon, a month of spiritual stocktake. We go through the balance sheets of our souls and our Avodah to see where we stand as the ‘fiscal year’ draws to its close. With an honest accounting we often find ourselves in the red. We have asked Hashem for so much and have benefited from all of the blessings extended to us on credit, spending them as we see fit. But we cannot keep borrowing without paying in off.
The Mishna continues; the collectors are constantly on the job and they collect payment from a person with or without their consent and they have support for their actions. The judgement is a true judgement.
There’s no denying these loans; the ledger keeps an accurate record. As we say in our Rosh Hashona Tefillos, All is revealed and known before You. The Heavenly debt-collection agency is always at work, but as the Yomim Noraim come around their efforts intensify.
The feeling of being in debt is unpleasant to say the least. When the first, second and final warnings stamped in deep red ink arrive, followed by threats of legal action, repossession and foreclosure, one feels as though they are drowning with no way to escape the cycle.
What is our recourse?
Our sages explain that Hashem observes the very Mitzvos which He commands us to keep.
Just as our personal debts are cancelled by Shemittah, Hashem too forgoes the debts which we have accrued. The Shemittah is a year where like the farmers in Eretz Yisroel, we detach ourselves from worldly affairs to connect ourselves more deeply to Hashem, prompting Hashem to respond with a full waiver.
Of course we cannot rely on this as an excuse. A borrower needs to try to repay their debts and even after Shemittah, one who repays their debts the sages are pleased with them (mishna shviis 10:9). But when you genuinely can’t, Shemittah is a life-saver.
But what if Hashem makes a Pruzbul?
We often refer to a Beis Din Shel Maalah, a supernal Heavenly court. What is it? Who are the judges? How can there be a judiciary Above other than Hashem? So with whom would He make a Pruzbul?
The Beis Din Shel Maalah is not a separate force. It represents a manner in which Hashem relates to us in a way of Din - judgement. A Din is exacting. It is absolute - black and white. Din is about what is true. Compassion, consideration and appeals for clemency are not a feature of Din. And as the Dayan HaEmes, the True Judge, His Din is certainly Emes. Like a Pruzbul, in this mode of relationship, the debts will remain.
But Hashem can also relate to us in a manner which circumvents the Beis Din Shel Maalah. This is described as lifnim mishuras hadin, acting beyond the letter-of-the-law of strict justice. If we are dealing with Hashem Himself, beyond the ‘jurisdiction’ of the Heavenly court, our debts will be erased.
How do we keep our debts out of the Beis Din?
On the verse Hashem Tzilcha (Tehillim 23), The Baal Shem Tov comments that Hashem is like our shadow. Just as a shadow mimics and mirrors our movements, so too the manner in which Hashem relates to us will be commensurate and mirror how we relate to Him.
If we act towards Hashem and approach our Torah obligations in a way of Din, then the response from Above is one of Din. If we are exacting, looking to follow the letter of the law; if we make cheshbonos, looking to be Yotzai our obligations in a legalistic sense, then Hashem will relate to us in kind through the Beis Din Shel Maalah.
But when we go beyond the letter-of-the-law in our Avodah, not looking to suffice with what’s good enough to discharge our obligations, Hashem will do the same. When our Mitzvos are not just by force of habit or dry sense of obligation, but are infused with chayus and Hiddur Mitzvah, we go beyond our limitations. Through this we connect to Hashem Himself and Hashem will go beyond the shuras hadin.
When the debts are not passed on to the Beis Din, they will be willingly, lovingly and completely withdrawn.
Once we are no longer in debt, the credit-line is open again and Hashem will extend to us blessings for everything we need, materially and spiritually.
May Hashem cancel out all of our debts and shower us with a new credit-line of Brachos for the coming year, in health, wealth and children and in all matters both materially and spiritually.
In a number of years, after making a Pruzbul, the Rebbe would give a Brocha that just as we have made a Pruzbul down here, may Hashem not make a Pruzbul Above.
What is the meaning of this Brocha?
The Shemittah year cancels out debts. This applies in Eretz Yisroel and Chutz Laaretz alike. Today the force of this Mitzvah is only Rabbinic. The cancellation only takes effect at the end of the year, but already from Rosh Hashona one may no longer demand repayment.
When Hillel saw that lenders were hesitant and refusing to lend money (in violation of the Torah’s warning), he instituted a halachic remedy referred to as a Pruzbul. By handing one’s loans to the Beis Din and stating either verbally or in writing I am giving my loans to you that I may collect them whenever I desire, they are no longer cancelled out by Shemittah and may be collected at a later date.
We are all borrowers
Pirkei Avos (3:16) teaches; the store is open and the storekeeper extends on credit the ledger is open and the hand records. Whoever wishes to borrow let them come and borrow.
A loan has 2 key features. Unlike an item which is borrowed where the actual object must be returned, a loan may be spent the borrower sees fit. But a loan is not a gift and must eventually be repaid.
Hashem gives us all of our blessings on credit; our health, our wealth and our children. These are on loan to us and we are free to decide how we will use them. But eventually the loan needs to be paid back in full.
We repay Hashem’s blessing for children by raising and educating our children to be dedicated to Hashem and keeping His Torah and Mitzvos. Our blessing for life and good health is repaid by using our time to the fullest in serving Hashem. The blessing of wealth and sustenance is repaid through giving Tzedakah.
The month of Elul is referred to as the Chodesh Hacheshbon, a month of spiritual stocktake. We go through the balance sheets of our souls and our Avodah to see where we stand as the ‘fiscal year’ draws to its close. With an honest accounting we often find ourselves in the red. We have asked Hashem for so much and have benefited from all of the blessings extended to us on credit, spending them as we see fit. But we cannot keep borrowing without paying in off.
The Mishna continues; the collectors are constantly on the job and they collect payment from a person with or without their consent and they have support for their actions. The judgement is a true judgement.
There’s no denying these loans; the ledger keeps an accurate record. As we say in our Rosh Hashona Tefillos, All is revealed and known before You. The Heavenly debt-collection agency is always at work, but as the Yomim Noraim come around their efforts intensify.
The feeling of being in debt is unpleasant to say the least. When the first, second and final warnings stamped in deep red ink arrive, followed by threats of legal action, repossession and foreclosure, one feels as though they are drowning with no way to escape the cycle.
What is our recourse?
Our sages explain that Hashem observes the very Mitzvos which He commands us to keep.
Just as our personal debts are cancelled by Shemittah, Hashem too forgoes the debts which we have accrued. The Shemittah is a year where like the farmers in Eretz Yisroel, we detach ourselves from worldly affairs to connect ourselves more deeply to Hashem, prompting Hashem to respond with a full waiver.
Of course we cannot rely on this as an excuse. A borrower needs to try to repay their debts and even after Shemittah, one who repays their debts the sages are pleased with them (mishna shviis 10:9). But when you genuinely can’t, Shemittah is a life-saver.
But what if Hashem makes a Pruzbul?
We often refer to a Beis Din Shel Maalah, a supernal Heavenly court. What is it? Who are the judges? How can there be a judiciary Above other than Hashem? So with whom would He make a Pruzbul?
The Beis Din Shel Maalah is not a separate force. It represents a manner in which Hashem relates to us in a way of Din - judgement. A Din is exacting. It is absolute - black and white. Din is about what is true. Compassion, consideration and appeals for clemency are not a feature of Din. And as the Dayan HaEmes, the True Judge, His Din is certainly Emes. Like a Pruzbul, in this mode of relationship, the debts will remain.
But Hashem can also relate to us in a manner which circumvents the Beis Din Shel Maalah. This is described as lifnim mishuras hadin, acting beyond the letter-of-the-law of strict justice. If we are dealing with Hashem Himself, beyond the ‘jurisdiction’ of the Heavenly court, our debts will be erased.
How do we keep our debts out of the Beis Din?
On the verse Hashem Tzilcha (Tehillim 23), The Baal Shem Tov comments that Hashem is like our shadow. Just as a shadow mimics and mirrors our movements, so too the manner in which Hashem relates to us will be commensurate and mirror how we relate to Him.
If we act towards Hashem and approach our Torah obligations in a way of Din, then the response from Above is one of Din. If we are exacting, looking to follow the letter of the law; if we make cheshbonos, looking to be Yotzai our obligations in a legalistic sense, then Hashem will relate to us in kind through the Beis Din Shel Maalah.
But when we go beyond the letter-of-the-law in our Avodah, not looking to suffice with what’s good enough to discharge our obligations, Hashem will do the same. When our Mitzvos are not just by force of habit or dry sense of obligation, but are infused with chayus and Hiddur Mitzvah, we go beyond our limitations. Through this we connect to Hashem Himself and Hashem will go beyond the shuras hadin.
When the debts are not passed on to the Beis Din, they will be willingly, lovingly and completely withdrawn.
Once we are no longer in debt, the credit-line is open again and Hashem will extend to us blessings for everything we need, materially and spiritually.
May Hashem cancel out all of our debts and shower us with a new credit-line of Brachos for the coming year, in health, wealth and children and in all matters both materially and spiritually.