The Mitzvah of Paying a Debt; The Lomdus of Rav Elchanan & Rav Aaron Kotler

okay good morning everyone we have a major Su and we're going to try to do it quickly the gamar said andf P the gar had a question on R Papa let me see if I could put up on the screen here okay here we go a question R Papa um Rah I'm with k with Papa by the way today she is dedicated by my dear friend Kenneth Pinas his father whose yard side is today whole family the has a very interesting question ask Pap according to you who say who says paying a debt is a Mitzvah what does it mean it's a mitzvah it's a Mitzvah to pay a debt and a Mitzvah meaning and simply there's no monetary obligation there's no monetary obligation it's a Mitzvah to pay a debt what if the guy says you know what I'm not in the mood of doing Mitzvah today I'll do a Mitzvah when my debt is let's say a dollar but if my debt is a million dollar I I don't I prefer not to do that Mitzvah says gamar um how do you in other words how do you pay a debt what's the responsibility what's the liability to pay back a debt so this is the question Papa said back you know when they're 39 malas when someone violates a by for example we tell somebody make a he doesn't want to he doesn't want to we hit we hit someone so if we're going to hit someone to fulfill a Mitzvah until his soul departs we'll also force him to pay back let's focus on the G's question according to you rap Papa you say paying back a debt is a Mitzvah yeah as opposed to what what's the alternative the alternative is that when you when you lend someone money it creates a lean on his property he has Financial liability um to pay so presumably the opinion that PR Mitzvah holds that there is no Financial liability there's no financial responsibility it's merely a Mitzvah it's like shaking a lul it's like sitting in a Suka it's like wearing thin so if a guy doesn't want to do the Mitzvah what recourse does the bezan have to ensure that he fulfills the mitzvah mean it seems like if you hold prah there is no Financial liability it's merely a religious responsibility but what if the guy doesn't want to fulfill that now let's first Focus for a moment what is the Mitzvah of paying back a debt if there's no lean if there's no rash says the Mitzvah is look at rashi rashi says to make your word true that your yes should be righteous your yes should be righteous your your no should be righteous okay the ritv on the other hand quotes a different P by the way it's very interesting the RV quotes a means you shouldn't be a hypocrite but a guy who doesn't want to pay back his yes his mouth and heart are not contradictory he doesn't want to pay and he says he doesn't want to pay originally when he borrowed he wanted a borrow and now he doesn't want to pay that the person who you who owes you money has to bring out the loan has to bring out what the item that's owed but it's only a mitzvah for him the Mitzvah is the uh the the man who you owe to the the the man who owes has to bring out the debt so that's the MIT not which is basically a what Rashi means um in fact the the is by this question when says because gar comes out not like that it's but in any event Rashi seems to be learning and the r learn seems to be learning that the according to Papa if you hold sh is not the responsibility to pay a debt is merely religious if that's the case what recourse does BZ have to ensure that somebody pays back and the answer is they could beat The Living Daylights out of the guy which doesn't mean they do it means if they're able to then they certainly could enforce uh the Fulfillment of a Mitzvah in other words the G's conclusion would then seem to be that there is no financial responsibility but the recourse is bezin has the ability to enforce the performance of a Mitzvah so what exactly does this mean PR and there's no at all so the RV says yeah the RV says it's merely a mitvah for someone to pay back a loan there is no biblical shib there's no biblical shib you borrow money from someone simply you have no biblical financial responsibility it's merely a mitzvah so the question is so then what recourse does somebody have if the guy says you know what I don't want to be uh I don't want to observe this Mitzvah now the also he says says it's that even though he would agree it's still a Mitzvah and it's like says and the rvah explains it's a Mitzvah but it's not a what if the guy doesn't want want to fulfill the Mitzvah says thear we know that by Mitzvah so to here we force him until um he says instead of physically forcing him we force him with his money it's aah it's not a financial responsibility it's a monetary responsibility now just as an aside the rush argues with the RV the rush holds that Papa holds so if what's the's question what recourse do we have to collect a debt if PR but himself the rash says says in you could collect from because and says in that we do not go down to the why because and are not responsible to when they're which implies that when they're we do force them to pay because the rush says the gar Kasha is well that's very nice she was but what if the doesn't have K so then what do we do what do we do then so the rush learns that the doesn't have but the disagrees the says that the of holds is not okay that's and the only responsibility someone has to pay a debt is a religious responsibility so comes and asks a BBA on the r if you hold like the rvah that she is not could somebody please tell me if somebody dies do their hirs have to pay their debt of course why they inherit a Mitzvah you can't inherit a Mitzvah you can inherit money you can't inherit an obligation to do a Mitzvah if PRI is just a Mitzvah then why would an heir have to pay back a debt says how what obligation does an heir have to pay a debt you heard the question why would an heir have to pay back a debt has a big says that even the M that and you still have a financial responsibility to pay where do you think the Mitzvah comes from what's the Mitzvah then if there's no financial responsibility to pay there can be no Mitzvah the Mitzvah is to take care of the financial responsibility so you'll say says if the is to pay back the debt there has to be a debt before to pay the debt if there would not be there would be Noah at all between this and other is other mitv the obligation stems from the Mitzvah since you have to take a you need to buy it over here it's the opposite the Mitzvah stems from the financial responsibility here theah is an offshoot of the obligation and other obligations of the obligation is an offshoot of the mitvah since there is a even without the Mitzvah they there could be inheritance you can't say you're not my it's a so there is a financial responsibility the only thing is if she is not the it is not a financial responsibility that we could enforce means that even though you are have a monetary financial responsibility but there doesn't create a lean says even though the learns that the that holds prv that doesn't mean it's just the Mitzvah and there's no financial responsibility of course there's a financial responsibility it's just not an enforcable one that's a and says the same idea okay so we we've arrived at something very important that even though the RV learns the gar that the that holds even though it holds is not doesn't mean there's no monitary obligation there is a monitary obligation it's just it's not enforceable with this it comes out two amazing question according to the what if you borrowed a million what if you borrowed a million dollars and it's more than a fifth of your assets are you now exempt from the Mitzvah because you don't have to spend more than one5 of your money on a mitzvah that that's the that's the question brisar Sal asks what if you have no money and you borrowed all the money you have but if the only reason you have to pay back is because that but you only have to spend up to a fifth of your money on a Mitzvah so why would the have to pay so what would you answer to this question this whole question is predicated on way we learned the originally that priah means the only obligation to pay is religious but the way re learns is that of course there's a financial obligation to pay it's just it's not enforcable there's no is is not and the only obligation the only enforceable element is the Mitzvah but how do we force on mitvah so according to this say shinberg that of course is a financial obligation to pay it's just not enforceable then if somebody borrowed a million dollars even though it's more than a fifth of his money of course he's going to have to pay oh but you don't have to do a mitzvah for more than a fifth of your money that's not the only obligation you have here of course you have a financial obligation the Mitzvah is enforcing the financial obligation but the obligation ah so now I would ask the following Lambda shakha you ready for this it's a good thing you came today I don't know if your grandmother had a Davin weal you're here to this Kasha but maybe you're great aunt or something okay this is a bumba so we've answered R's question we've said well you know why if somebody borrowed up to um um all of his money he would have to pay back I but it's more than oneth because the obligation here is a financial obligation therefore you have to take care of your financial obligation but here's my question what if somebody borrowed all of his money and he says I don't want to pay back so thear says well we could force him because we could force someone to be M Mitzvah well wait a second but it's more than a fifth of his money and we could only could we enforce someone in other words what's the reason why somebody has to pay back more than a fifth of his money that's because of the fin anial obligation but the's question is how could we enforce it to which thear says we could enforce it because it's a Mitzvah but it's not a Mitzvah More Than A Fifth so basically would we have any way to enforce somebody to pay back a debt in a situation where it's more than a fifth of his mind or do we say look it is a Mitzvah so we can enforce no or do we say it's a Mitzvah that the religious aspect he would be exempt from the the only thing that obligates him is the financial and that's that's not something that we can enforce so I would ask how do we go about enforcing I would so to speak take Rim's question to the next level meaning we've answered Rim's question's question again is if priah then How could somebody pay back more than a fifth of his money to which he R shinberg says well don't you know reban there is still a financial obligation but but that's not enforceable so how would we enforce somebody on More Than A Fifth that would be my question next this is and the answer of there's a mitz the T to write a sa what if somebody writes a sa forra and he loses it are you still y say the Mitzvah I would have said no cuz the Mitzvah is not to write a sa you know how I know that cuz if you write a and you give it to a you lose the Mitzvah of because you don't own it anymore many people think that when they give it to a sh and they make AAR that they could take it back at any time they do that so that the sh doesn't claim it's theirs that's not the reason they do that they do that because of if they don't make a they lose the Mitzvah because they don't own it anymore the Mitzvah is to own a however if you inherit a sa you also don't get the Mitzvah because it the Mitzvah is to own a that came about through your writing fine says that if you lose a you're still M the Mitzvah of he says you know what the proof is what if you owe somebody $50,000 and you and uh you can't pay back so the is they're allow to come to your house and take away your SAA as a payment you know that that if you owe a debt is you owe somebody money so you if you have a sa you'll have to give them a to pay back the debt according to the opinion that paying a debt is a Mitzvah why does the Mitzvah of paying a debt take precedence over the Mitzvah of writing a sa forra in other words if by giving away a sa forra you lose the Mitzvah of writing a saera then why are you allowed to pay a debt by giving someone a saera why is the Mitzvah paying a debt more important than the Mitzvah of riding a sa must be you still still get the Mitzvah of having even if you gave it away now I would challenge the question on its premise you know why the MST paying a debt takes precedence over writing a sa Tyra because why should that guy suffer cuz you want to be a big sadic and have a saer Tyra that's your problem that you're going to lose the MIT of meanwhile meanwhile this guy wants his money back so I guess the question is well he has he has no uh way to enforce that because you could say I don't want to give it to you because I don't want to lose my Mitzvah so says it must be you don't lose the Mitzvah if you give someone a sa comeson Cutler caller says according to the way we're understanding the rvah there's no R of why you know why the Mitzvah really I'll tell you if you give away sa you lose the Mitzvah of sa so why does the Mitzvah of paying a debt take precedence over riding a sa forra very simply because aside from the Mitzvah paying a debt you have a financial responsibility to pay the guy oh but I thought we're in the and I don't have a fin no you have a financial responsibility it's just not enforceable so if you wanted to know why do we give precedence to the Mitzvah of paying a debt over riding a sa it's because besides the religious aspects over here you have financial responsibility this is this is the that even according to that again the the rush learns there is sh but according to the RV that but is not there is still financial responsibility [Music] um okay we're going to hold it over here that's what this is the Rabon Cutler says according to this it would be uh we'd be able to knock off the proof of okay thank you very much for joining again Today's show was sponsored by Kenneth pinu Le nishas his father who y thank you very much yeah it's a good one by the way good okay have a good day everyone can I have your question sure sure I'm being a on the the par okay I'm turn yeah fine uhuh one second yep