Commentary for Gittin 59:20

מאי בינייהו

'This is not reckoned as interest': why so? — Since when he has nothing he does not give, when he has something [and gives less]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., keeps more for himself ');">¹⁵</span> this is not counted as interest. 'The seventh year does not release it': because we do not apply here the verse, he shall not press.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XV, 2; since he cannot claim anything from the debtors. ');">¹⁶</span> 'If he desires to retract, he is not permitted': R. Papa said: This rule applies only to the owner vis-a-vis the priest, but if the priest wants to retract, he may, as we have learnt:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. B.M. 44a. ');">¹⁷</span> If he [the purchaser] has given him [the seller] money but has not yet pulled into his possession the produce, he can retract.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The owner is regarded as purchasing the dues from the priest or Levite. The latter has received the money, but the former has not yet handled the goods. ');">¹⁸</span> 'If the owner has given up all hope of recovering he does not appropriate any dues, because dues are not set aside from that which has been given up as lost': Is not this obvious? — It required to be stated for the case where the corn was in stalk [before it was blighted]. You might think that in that case the corn is counted as something [of value].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because if the corn was in the stalk it has a chance of recovering. ');">¹⁹</span> Now I know [that this is not so]. It has been taught: R. Eleazar b. Jacob says: If a man lends a priest or a Levite money in the presence of the <i>Beth din</i> and they die [before repaying], he sets aside dues for them as belonging to the whole tribe [and recovers therefrom].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The rest of the tribe being regarded as his heirs, and so liable for the debt. ');">²⁰</span> [If he lent] to a poor man before the <i>Beth din</i> and he died, he sets aside dues for him as belonging to the poor of Israel [and recovers therefrom]. R. Ahi said: As belonging to all the poor.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the Poor of the world'. ');">²¹</span> What is the practical difference between them?

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