Shmitat Kesafim in the Sabbatical Year

The Torah states: "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because Hashem's release has been proclaimed." This verse contains two commandments:

Positive commandment: To release loans in the Sabbatical year.

Negative commandment: Not to demand payment from the borrower.

In our times, the commandment of debt cancellation is observed by rabbinic decree (since the biblical commandment of debt cancellation only applies when the Jubilee year is observed, which is not practiced today).

Debt cancellation only applies between Jews. Between a Jew and a non-Jew, debt cancellation does not apply. Therefore, if a Jew purchases a promissory note from a non-Jew that states the non-Jew lent money to a Jew, the Sabbatical year does not cancel this debt.

Debt cancellation applies to both men and women.

Debt cancellation occurs only at the end of the Sabbatical year, so a person who lent money to another can collect the debt throughout the entire Sabbatical year. However, as soon as the new year begins after the Sabbatical year (on Rosh Hashanah night), the debt is canceled and it becomes forbidden to collect it.

Debt cancellation only applies to loans whose repayment date falls before the end of the Sabbatical year. Loans with repayment dates after the Sabbatical year are not canceled. For example: if someone made a 5-year loan and the repayment date arrived before or during the Sabbatical year, this loan is canceled immediately at the end of the Sabbatical year. But if someone made a 5-year loan with a repayment date two years after the Sabbatical year, this loan is not canceled. Similarly, if someone made a loan in the month of Elul of the Sabbatical year with a repayment date one month after the end of the Sabbatical year, this loan is not canceled.

At the end of the Sabbatical year, both verbal loans and written loans are canceled.

Only loans without collateral are canceled in the Sabbatical year. Loans secured by collateral are not canceled at the end of the Sabbatical year.

The Sabbatical year cancels only loans, but does not cancel debts. Therefore, if someone has a debt at a grocery store, the Sabbatical year does not cancel this debt, as it is not considered a loan. Similarly, if a man divorced his wife and committed to pay her ketubah but did not pay until after the Sabbatical year ended, the Sabbatical year does not cancel her ketubah. Also, if someone owed money to another person for work performed, or if a court ordered someone to pay money to another person, in all these cases, the Sabbatical year does not cancel the debt since these are considered debts, not loans.

If someone lent oil or wine or similar items (things that are not returned in their original form) to another person, and the Sabbatical year passed, he cannot demand these products back because this is considered a loan and is canceled by the Sabbatical year.

If someone was a guarantor for a loan and paid the loan on behalf of the borrower, and then the Sabbatical year ended, the guarantor cannot demand repayment from the borrower, as the Sabbatical year cancels loans.

Someone who violated this law and did not cancel loans owed to him has transgressed both a positive and negative commandment. Therefore, it is not appropriate to call him up to the Torah for the portion in Deuteronomy that discusses this topic.