Here we'll talk about a shtar (a loan document), a loan document that was destroyed. The information on it got wiped away. What do we do in that situation? The Mishnah says that somebody's loan document was accidentally erased. Let's say all ink fell on it, or it fell into water and the writing became unreadable. So now the lender has this document that he wants to use to collect from the person who borrowed money from him, but the information is problematic. We say he could bring witnesses to testify that they knew what was written in the document. They come before the Beit Din (Jewish court) and make a certification. They prepare a replacement document for him, and he can use it to collect on his original loan. It would need to include all the details of the original loan, as well as the date, which becomes important for lien purposes. The Mishnah will elaborate on this at the end of the Perek (chapter), to enable a person to collect repayment of his loan. The ability to collect repayment begins on that date. The document starts by saying, “The loan document of the following individual, the son of this person, was erased on this date.” The following people are his witnesses, who testify that it became; they sign the document. The replacement document, with all the proper information, is given to him in place of the original document. Now the lender can use it to collect the loan he gave out.
The Mishnah is now going to talk about a new case: a loan document was partially repaid. We can't leave the original document in the hands of the lender. If the original loan was $100,000 and $50,000 was paid back, then he's still holding a document that says $100,000 is owed to him. And that's not true, because part of it was paid. He could take that document, with the wrong amount, and try to get $100,000 from the person who borrowed the money. But we also can't ask the lender to give the loan document back to the borrower, because then the lender has no proof that he's owed the rest of the money. So we have a machloket (dispute). What do we do in this case? The Mishnah says that someone repaid part of his loan.
Rabbi Yehuda says they rip up the old loan document and write up a new one. The borrower has to prepare a new document for the money he still owes the lender. They rip up the old document, and the new document is given to the lender. Rabbi Yose says, “No, they don't write a whole new document. They keep the old document, and a receipt of payment is given to the borrower to show that he has proof that he repaid part of the loan.” The lender keeps the original document, while the borrower holds on to a receipt showing that he paid partially.
Rabbi Yehuda, the one who says that a new document is written up, tells Rabbi Yose, who says that a receipt is written up, that this isn't fair: “We're forcing the borrower to accept a receipt showing that he partially paid, and we're also forcing him to guard this receipt against being eaten by mice or getting lost. If he loses that receipt, the lender would be able to collect the entire original loan amount without deducting the amount partially paid. So why should we trouble the borrower in this way?”
Rabbi Yose answers him: “This is a good arrangement. It's better for the lender. The borrower will now feel pressure to pay back faster because he's worried that he's going to lose the receipt. And the lender's power shouldn't be weakened just because we're worried about the pressure on the borrower.” So according to Rabbi Yose, if we made the lender accept a new document, we would be weakening his ability to collect the rest of the loan. Not to mention the different dates that are going to be used on the new contract. So we're sort of now post-dating things. And it makes collecting off of a lien property quite difficult with that new document. So therefore, according to him, we allow the lender to keep the original document, and we write a receipt for the partial payment and give it to the borrower.