Let us move onto another area of ribbis which particularly affects those from abroad who are privileged to live in Eretz Yisrael.
The classic case of ribbis is when one borrows a certain amount of money or items and agrees at the time of the loan to return more than he borrowed. For example, one who lends an almost full bottle of oil or grape juice asks the borrower to return a full bottle. Even if the lender didn’t stipulate this, the borrower may not return more than what he borrowed.
Another form of ribbis is when one borrows an item and then returns the same item, which in the interim has risen in value. He therefore has given his lender more then he received; hence the ribbis. An example of this is if one borrowed a box of leftover matzos after Pesach and promises to return it before the coming Pesach, when he receives his own fresh batch of matzos. The value of a box of hand matzah after Pesach is far less than its value before Pesach.
Based on this, Chazal instituted a new prohibition in ribbis, that not only may one not make such a return, but one is forbidden to loan goods that may rise in price. The reason is, as mentioned, that Chazal were concerned that perhaps the price of the item will rise and the borrower will repay more value than he borrowed.
At first glance this halacha would seem to preclude most lending, as almost everything eventually rises in price. As we will discuss, there are several leniencies which cover many of our day-to-day loans.
The only thing that is definitely exempt is currency, i.e., money. The reason is that money does not rise or fall in value. The local currency is actually the barometer with which we measure the prices and values of items. If prices go up, that shows us that the goods have risen in value, and the same is true of the converse. The currency, however, always stays the same. Therefore, there is no concern that the value will change.
This is true regarding only local currency. However, foreign currency can be measured against the local currency and its value is therefore subject to change. In the coming weeks we will discuss this problem along with some solutions.
