ת"ר המוציא שטר חוב עד שלא פרעו חייב משפרעו פטור רבי יהודה אומר אף משפרעו חייב מפני שצריך לו מאי בינייהו אמר רב יוסף אסור לשהות שטר פרוע איכא בינייהו רבנן סברי אסור לשהות שטר פרוע ורבי יהודה סבר מותר לשהות שטר פרוע
An objection is raised: If one carries out erased paper or a receipted note; if its blank portion is large enough for two letters to be written thereon, or if the whole is sufficient for wrapping round the mouth of a small phial of spikenard oil, he is culpable; but if not, he is not culpable. As for R. Shesheth, who explained, What is meant by 'two letters'? two letters of a tax-collector's receipt, it is well.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The same explanation holds good here too.
');"><sup>17</sup></span> But according to Raba, who said that it means two letters of ours together with a margin for holding, which is the equivalent of a tax-collector's receipt — surely here no margin for holding is required?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It can be held by the erased or the written portion.
');"><sup>18</sup></span> This is a difficulty.
Noam Elimelech
Or we can say "if one hasn't repaid it" (Shabbat 78b:7) that behold, a person has inside a piece of Godliness Above, and even when one transgresses, God forbid... were it not for that Godly piece inside, a person would have no strength to move any part of their body to do anything. And [in a transgression] there is forcing of that Godly piece to cover itself with coverings since those coverings make it possible for that piece to suffer through the great pain of the transgression, and this is secret of the exile of the Shechinah. And after, when a person repents (returns/does teshuvah) and cries over their transgressions, they cry over the exile of the Shechinah, and through this they destroy the coverings that the Godly piece was forced to wear, and reveal, through the fixing (tikkun) of the transgression [the Shechinah]. And this is the meaning in "until one has not repaid" - that is, one has not removed and revealed the coverings from the Godly piece, one has not yet done teshuvah as needed, so one is "obligated." "And if one has repaid, one is exempt", as explained above. "Rabbi Yehudah says etc" as explained above.
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