The pasuk in Tehilim says
לֹוֶה רָשָׁע וְלֹא יְשַׁלֵּם,
Someone who borrows and doesn’t pay is considered a bad man.
The Mishna in Pirke Avot says this is referring to a person who is not a Ro’eh Nolad: someone who doesn’t see the future. He’s borrowing money without a plan. That’s not a good thing.
וְצַדִּיק חוֹנֵן וְנוֹתֵן
And the righteous man is gracious and gives.
It seems say the righteous man, but it can also mean The Righteous One is gracious and gives.
The Rambam, in his Perush Mishnayot in Masechet Avot
perek ב, Mishnah ט-says this pasuk seems like we are contrasting the man that borrows without a plan to the man who gracious and gives. But the Rambam says that this isn’t what the pasuk means. It’s all part of the same scenario. There was a man that borrowed and didn’t pay back,
וְצַדִּיק חוֹנֵן וְנוֹתֵן
and the then the Sadik reciprocates with graciousness and gives. Who is this sadik?
The Rambam says it’s צדיקו של עולם The Righteous One of the world- G-d Himself.
Like the pasuk says, צדיק וישר הוא -G-d is righteous and straight. It also says-ואתה צדיק על כל הבא עלינו-You are righteous in everything that comes upon us
So, the Sadik is G-d.
This means that the man that lent money and wasn’t paid back shouldn’t worry. The Sadik, who is G-d, will pay him back for the Hessed he did in fulfilling the Mitzvah of lending. He did his best, so even if he didn’t get paid back, in the end, Hashem Himself will pay him back. That’s the Rambam’s explanation of this pasuk.
Another point on this pasuk -וְצַדִּיק חוֹנֵן וְנוֹתֵן-The Sadik is gracious and gives.
What exactly does word חונן- gracious mean?
As we have said in the past, there is a Middah called Hanun
(as in the word V’etHanan, when Moshe prayed. Rashi says it means for free. Like a Matnat Hinam- a free gift)
When you lend someone money and they haven’t paid you back, you just went beyond the call of duty. That was a matnat hinam- a free gift. When we act down here in a certain way, it arouses G-d upstairs.
(This is not to say that this condones borrowing money and not paying it back. That is the first half of this pasuk, which I briefly skimmed over. Don’t borrow money if you don’t have a plan. But now we are addressing the lender)
If someone lent money and didn’t get paid back, and swallowed it, and did it with simcha, and G-d sees that, it arouses the Midah of Hanun in Hashem. Therefore, G-d doesn’t just give, He gives even though the lender may not necessarily deserve.
This is a great concept. It’s all of our bitachon classes.
A person never loses money from lending and not getting paid back. People sometimes are reluctant to give because they haven’t gotten paid back. They may have a “new policy” that they can’t lend. Of course, if you lend money, you should have a co-signer, and you should maybe even ask for collateral, and be careful. But lending money is one of the greatest hesseds. Having a gemach is one of the greatest things. The Chafetz Chaim says that if a person has money, they should open a gemach and lend it out. The merits repeat themselves over and over again. I remember years ago, when I was in high school in Mirror Yeshiva, someone passed away. One of my friends was opening a gemach. He asked me to raise money for it. I said I’d try. It was my first ever solicitation for donations. He said he needed $500. I called a relative and gave him the following mashal: If you had a choice between two different types of razors (assuming the razors are kosher), and razor you could use only once and throw it out, but the other razor you keep using again and again and again and it never runs out, which one would you choose? (In today’s day I would say which mask would you choose? The one that you use once and throw out or the one that you could reuse.) So, he said of course he would buy the one that lasts forever. So I said, “OK do you give charity?” He said of course he did. So I told him there are two kinds of charity; one type charity is when you give you, get one great Mitzvah, and the other type of charity that you give keeps repeating itself again and again and again. I asked him which one he would choose. He said, “Of course, I would give to the second one.” So, I told him, “OK, I have one for you. It’s called a gemach.” He gave me the money.
I’d like to do some research and call the man who started the Gemach to see whatever happened with it. I haven’t spoken to him in years, he lives out of the country now. But I still remember the man who gave me the $500 that long time ago. He probably forgot all about it. But it’s still continuing to accrue dividends.
Gemachs are a great thing. And the Rambam said even if you don’t get paid back, you do get paid back.
The Pele Yoetz says about this topic, that when the man doesn’t pay you back, the Sadik is the fellow that lent the money.
He’s Honen V’Noten . He gives a free gift.
He doesn’t want the man to sin or get punished because he didn’t pay back. So, he gives a free gift. He forgives the loan. The lender who’s a Sadik forgives the loan.
He also mentions the same Rambam, that the Sadik- referring to G-d- will pay him back, from another place. Because the rule says
שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע
Someone who does a Mitzvah does not know any evil from it.
What does this have to do with Bitachon?
He says that
ומי שהוא יהודי כשר
Someone who’s a kosher Jew
שמאמין באמונה שלימה באלו דברים של
רז"ל הנאמרים באמת לא יקשה בעיניו אם הלוה סלע לעני בשעת דוחקו
ואכל ממנו
That believes the words of the rabbis were said in truth it won’t bother him that he gave the money to a poor man was under duress and ate it up (couldn’t pay it back)
שיאמין באמונה שלימה שכבר ה' שם כספו באמתחתו ביתר שאת
ולא ירע לבבו באחיו האביון ולא יהא נועל דלת בפני לווים במקום הראוי:
He’ll believe that G-d put him money in his pouch (just like Yosef with his brothers) more than he gave.
And he won’t look down on the guy. He’ll continue to lend and not stop. Because he believes he never lost on any loans.
Wow.
That’s emunah and bitachon- related generosity. Have a wonderful day.