Hilchos ribbis is one of the least studied areas of halachah. Rav Pinchas Vind, founder of the Beis Horaah L’Inyanei Ribbis, is here to help you through it

Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Personal Archives

Rav Pinchas Vind has a surprising piece of advice for American parents of children studying in Israel.

“Give them a dollar.”

What is this? Some kind of segulah?

“The dollar will save them from committing one of the most serious aveiros,” Rav Vind declares. “They shouldn’t spend the dollar, but make sure to keep it with them the entire time that they’re in Israel. That way they’ll be protected.”

What transgression could a yeshivah bochur or seminary student stumble on, that having a dollar will prevent?

The answer is ribbis, the Torah prohibition of borrowing or lending money to a fellow Jew with interest, explains Rav Pinchas Vind, founder and rabbinical director of the Beis Horaah L’Inyanei Ribbis, the only beis horaah in the world to deal exclusively with hilchos ribbis and its corollary, heter iska. Yeshivah or seminary students studying in Israel often borrow dollars from their friends when they’ve run out of cash and are waiting for some more to arrive from their TAM (Tatty and Mommy) machine back home. The problem is that borrowing dollars in Israel (or any foreign currency anywhere) might entail a serious question of ribbis. That’s because exchange rates fluctuate constantly, and when the borrower returns the money, it may be worth more against the local currency than when he borrowed it. This means that even if he returns the same amount of dollars that he borrowed, it might be worth more in shekels. The problem can be avoided, though, if the borrower has at least one dollar in his possession before he starts borrowing. “This is not a chumrah,” Rav Vind stresses, “but an outright halachah in the Mishnah.”

When I express wonder at this halachah I’d never heard of (who would have ever thought that returning the same amount of money you borrowed could be ribbis?), Rav Vind courteously tells me I’m not alone in my lack of knowledge. Hilchos ribbis is one of the least studied areas of halachah, he claims. Many respected talmidei chachamim, experts in other spheres of halachah, confess to Rav Vind that they have little knowledge of the subject. This, he says, is a tragedy, because ribbis is something that comes up every single day in our lives.

Do you own a business, hold down a job, or learn in kollel? Are you paying a mortgage, living in rented accommodations, or leasing a property to a Jew? Do you ever buy things with a credit card? Pay for purchases, vacation, or debts in installments? Do you ever give or receive postdated checks? Pay monthly utility bills? Borrow anything from a neighbor or friend? Order furniture or electrical items and prepay? Do you ever get a discount when paying for something in advance, or pay more than the regular price with a payment plan? Do you have any investments or pension plans? Ever withdraw money from an ATM, buy foreign currency, cash checks by a moneychanger, or borrow money from a gemach?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you’d better brush up on your knowledge of hilchos ribbis, whether or not you live in Israel (the halachos apply in chutz l’Aretz as well).