An exception from this law was made for the benefit of the stranger. The inhabitants of a town or a country who lived in the midst of their relatives, friends, and countrymen could, as a rule, be trusted to [[296]]return the loan in due time. If they were not known themselves, they could find persons who would recognise them or even offer themselves as security for them. It was different with the stranger (הנכרי) “who came from a far land” (Deut. xxix. 21); he was not known; he was, as a rule, without friends; he had none to offer security for him.[10] When in need, therefore, he would be unlikely to obtain a loan, if the lender were not permitted in such cases to take interest as compensation for risking the capital itself. The same reason explains also a second exception made in the law with regard to a stranger when a debtor. The payment of old debts is, as a rule, a great hardship to the insolvent, especially at a time when the benefit derived from the loan has already been forgotten. It was therefore ordained that every seven years a remission of all debts should take place. The debtor that lived in the country could easily be urged or forced to pay his debts, and the creditor could safely expect that he would receive his money before the year of release began. This was not the case with the stranger, who might with impunity keep out of sight for some time before the beginning of the seventh year: a circumstance that increased the uncertainty of the repayment, and would have rendered it almost impossible for a stranger to enjoy the benefit of a loan in times of temporary embarrassment, but for the exception made in his case from the law commanding the remission of all debts in the seventh year. [[297]]
We see here a difference made in our duties towards our fellow-men between an Israelite and a stranger, but solely for the benefit of “the stranger.” At present, when the original relation between the Israelite and the stranger has ceased, the spirit of charity and justice towards the stranger (נכרי) or non-Jew, which is the basis of this law, must continue to regulate our intercourse with our neighbours, and if the non-Jew would recognise the prohibition of taking interest as equally binding upon him as upon the Jew, the latter would not be allowed to take any kind of interest from a non-Jew. At all events, if any of our co-religionists take this law as a pretext for imposing upon their non-Jewish fellow-men, and injuring and ruining them by exorbitant usury, they pervert alike the letter and the spirit of the Divine command; they do not act in a Jewish spirit, and instead of being members of a holy nation or the people of the Lord, they are guilty of חלול השם, the profanation of the name of God, and do not deserve to be honoured by the name of Jews.
Denunciations are sometimes levelled against the Jews, on account of the misdeeds of some individuals, as cruel usurers. Those non-Jews who would take the trouble of thoroughly studying Jews and Judaism would soon discover the error and the baselessness of such denunciations. Judaism has never sanctioned usury, but, on the contrary, always condemned it.[11]
With regard to the property of our neighbour our Sages expressed the following maxim:—
“There are four characters among men: he who [[298]]says, ‘What is mine is mine and what is thine is thine,’ his is a neutral character; some say this is a character like that of Sodom; he who says, ‘What is mine is thine and what is thine is mine’ is a boor; he who says ‘What is mine is thine and what is thine is thine’ is a saint; he who says ‘What is thine is mine and what is mine is mine’ is a wicked man” (Aboth v. 10).
We are not only commanded to abstain from injuring our neighbour with regard to his property, but we are exhorted to protect it as far as lies in our power. “If thou meetest the ox of thine enemy or his ass going astray, bring it back to him” (Exod. xxiii. 4). “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely bring them again unto thy brother” (Deut. xxii. 1). “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again” (ibid. ver. 4).
3. The Honour of our Fellow-man.—“Let the honour of thy fellow-man be as dear to thee as thy own” (Aboth ii. 10). We are very sensitive about our own honour; and many of us—nay, all right-minded persons—are more anxious for the good name acquired through integrity of character than for the safety of their property. We must be equally sensitive about the honour of our fellow-man, and take good care lest we damage his repute by falsehood, slander, or spreading evil reports in apparently innocent gossip. An evil tongue (לשון הרע) is a serious failing from which few are exempt; even if a person is not guilty of the sin of evil speech, he does not entirely escape “the dust [[299]]of the evil tongue” (Babyl. Talm. B. Bathra 165a). Calumny, it is said, kills three—the slanderer himself, him who listens, and the person spoken of. We therefore add to the Amidah the words: “My God, guard my tongue from evil, and my lips from speaking guile;” and in one of the Psalms we read: “Who is the man that desireth life, and loveth days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile” (Ps. xxxiv. 13, 14).
Our Sages are very severe against those who attack the honour of their fellow-men. In one passage it is said: “Whoever causes by offensive words the face of his fellow-man to turn pale is almost guilty of shedding blood” (Babyl. Talm. B. Metsia 58b). Another passage runs thus: “Rather let a man throw himself into a furnace than publicly offend his fellow-man” (ibid. 59a).
The Law does not only forbid the utterance of evil reports, but also the encouragement given to the tale-bearer by listening to his stories. “Thou shalt not take up a false report” (Exod. xxiii. 1). In the Book of Proverbs the evil consequences of listening to slander are thus depicted: “If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, all his servants are wicked” (Prov. xxix. 12). “He who giveth heed to wicked lips causeth evil-doing; he who giveth ear to a mischievous tongue feedeth lies” (ibid. xvii. 4).
When we hear evil reports about our neighbour, we should try to defend him; when we are convinced that he has done wrong, we must rebuke him, lead him back to the right way, and not utterly reject him; we may still find some redeeming feature in his character that makes it worth our while to save him. [[300]]Thus Joshua, the son of Perachjah, teaches us: “Judge every man favourably” (Aboth i. 6); that is, if you are uncertain as to a man’s faults, let him have the benefit of the doubt. When we criticise our neighbour’s character—and idle gossip frequently leads to this practice—we are too often inclined to dwell upon his weak points—his vices—and to pass over his merits in silence; but we ought to consider how little we should like to see the same treatment applied to ourselves. Another fault of ours is to judge the doings of other people without fully understanding all the circumstances and the causes that led to such actions. Hillel said, “Do not judge thy neighbour until thou hast come into his place;” that is, do not pass judgment upon your neighbour before you are able to place yourself in his position, and to say with certainty what, you would have done under the same circumstances. The Law forbids us to use divers weights and divers measures in our business transactions, lest we damage the property of our neighbour; equally unlawful is the use of one kind of weights and measures for weighing our own words and deeds, and another kind for weighing the words and the deeds of others, to the injury of our fellow-man’s name and repute. Contrary to the usage of courts of justice, our neighbour’s words and deeds are generally reported by us, interpreted, tried and condemned in his absence, when he is unable to defend himself, to show his innocence, or to prove the falsehood of the report, the error of the interpretation, and the injustice of the trial and the condemnation.