<b>If thou lend money to any of my people (Exod. 22:24).</b> Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: <i>Well is it with the man that dealeth graciously and lendeth, that ordereth his affairs rightfully, for he shall never be moved</i> (Ps. 112:5). All of God’s creations borrow from each other; day borrows from night, and night from day, but they do not bring charges against each other in court as mortals do, for it is said: <i>Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night revealeth knowledge; there is no speech, there are no words</i> (Ps. 19:3).
The moon and the stars borrow from each other, and when the Holy One, blessed be He, wills it, they do not go forth, as it is said: <i>Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars</i> (Job 9:7). The night borrows from the sun, and the sun from the night, yet it is said: <i>The sun and moon stand still in their habitation</i> (Hab. 3:11). Wisdom borrows from understanding, and understanding borrows from wisdom, as it is said: <i>Say unto wisdom: “Thou art my sister,” and call understanding thy kinswoman</i> (Prov. 7:4). Mercy and righteousness borrow from each other, as it is said: <i>He that followeth after righteousness and mercy</i> (Prov. 21:21). Heaven and earth borrow from each other, as it is said: <i>The Lord will open unto thee His good treasure the heaven</i> (Deut. 28:12). The Torah and the commandments, likewise, borrow from each other, as is said: <i>Keep My commandments and live</i> (Prov. 7:2).<sup class="footnote-marker">23</sup><i class="footnote">The Torah is a source of life, and so too are the commandments.</i>
All the creations of the Holy One, blessed be He, borrow from each other yet live at peace with each other; only man borrows form his fellow man and the lender seeks to devour the borrower through interest and robbery. One who takes interest is actually saying to the Holy One, blessed be He: Do You not take payment from Your world in which Your creatures reside? Payment from the earth which You water, from the flowers which You cause to grow, from the light You make shine, from the soul which You breathe (into us), from the body which You protect? The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: See how much I have loaned, yet I do not take interest, and see how much the earth has loaned you for which it does not take interest. I take only the principal which I have loaned, and the earth takes back only her principal, as it is said: <i>And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it</i> (Eccles. 12:7).
What is written about one who takes interest? <i>He that hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken increase; shall he then live? He shall not live</i> (Exod. 18:13). This may be compared to a king who makes his treasures available to a certain individual who later begins to oppress the poor, kill the widows, embarrass the needy, despoil the naked, do violence and theft, indulge in falsehood, and squander the king’s treasures. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, opens His treasure to the wealthy, with all that He possesses in it, as it is said: <i>Mine is the silver, and Mine the gold</i> (Hag. 2:8). Then the rich man begins to loan money on interest. And he starts to taunt the widows and oppress them with interest, to embarrass the poor, and to humiliate the naked who seek charity from him, even though the Holy One, blessed be He, had declared: <i>Whoso mocketh the poor blasphemeth his Maker</i> (Prov. 17:5). If a man’s neighbor is in debt to him for a hundred zuzim, he beats him, strips him, does violence to him, steals from him, and destroys the pledges he entrusted to him. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: <i>Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou was not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou hast ceased to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled</i> (Isa. 33:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, gave him wealth from His treasure house, which was a treasure house of truth, and he made it into a treasure house of falsehood, as it is said: <i>Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies, for thou didst trust</i> (Hos. 10:13). Hence, <i>when the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is not more</i> (Prov. 10:25). And that is why Solomon proclaimed: <i>Rob not the weak, because he is weak, neither crush the poor in the gate; for the Lord will plead their cause</i> (ibid. 22:22).
<i>Thou shalt not revile God</i> (Exod. 22:7). Observe that the Holy One, blessed be He, warned the people concerning their judges and their leaders. You find that Korah and his followers would not have been destroyed had they not embarrassed Moses and Aaron. Similarly, the men of Jerusalem were stricken only because they despised the words of the prophets, as it is said: <i>That they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words; until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy</i> (II Chron. 36:16). It is also written: <i>They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return</i> (Jer. 5:3). Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, reminded the Israelites concerning the respect due to elders, who had warned Israel against idolatry, as it is said: <i>And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed; and make no mention of the name of other gods</i> (Exod. 23:13).
What is written following this? <i>Three times thou shalt keep a festival unto Me in the year</i> (ibid., v. 14). The Holy One, blessed be He, established the festival of unleavened bread, on which He performed miracles in their behalf in Egypt; the harvest festival (Shavuot), on which He gave them the Torah, the fruits of which they were to enjoy in this world and their interest in the world-to-come, as it is said: <i>My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and My produce than choice silver</i> (Prov. 8:19); and the feast of ingathering (Sukkoth), on which the Holy One, blessed be He, fills their homes with blessings, as is said: <i>Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine</i> (Prov. 3:9–10). Thus it is said: <i>The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God</i> (Exod. 23:19).