3,783. Instituting the Prozbul

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 9:15

If someone gives his promissory notes to the court so that the judges will collect his debts, those debts aren’t canceled by shemittah. We learn this from Deuteronomy 15:3, which says “debts that you will have with your brother.” Only debts with “your brother” are canceled, not those being collected by the court. Similarly, if the court rules that person A must pay person B a certain amount, that debt isn’t canceled by shemittah. This debt is considered as if already collected and in the recipient’s possession, unlike a loan.

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 9:16

Hillel the Elder saw that people weren’t lending money in anticipation of shemittah, in violation of Deuteronomy 15:9: “Be careful that there not be a base thought in your heart….” He therefore instituted the prozbul so that debts wouldn’t be canceled and people would lend to one another. A prozbul only works for debts nowadays, whose cancelation is a Rabbinic enactment; a prozbul wouldn’t work for debts that are canceled under Biblical law.