Laws of Pruzbul (see Choshen Mishpat, Siman 67):

We weren’t able to participate in the Sh’mitah, Sabbatical year commemorations in Israel this year. But now, we too can be involved in the mitzvah of Sh’mtah in this unique way. The Torah forbade collection of loans after the Sh’mitah year. Hillel, around the year 0 CE realized that under such conditions, no one would lend money to others, which is a violation of the mitzvah of tzedakah. He instituted that prior to the annulment of loans at the end of Sh’mitah, the following actions be taken to ensure collection of loans, thereby assuring a flow of loans to individuals prior to that time. Here are the laws in brief;

1. At the end of the seventh year of the Sh’mitah (Sabbatical) cycle, all loans are nullified, including credit agreements and wage agreements that have been converted to loan agreements.

2. One who wishes to collects his loans after the Sh’mitah year must make a Pruzbul before the time that the loans are nullified (i.e. the end of the Sh’mitah year). Typically, this is done during the month of Elul.

3. How is it done?

The lender asks three men to sit as judges on a Beit Din (court). The individuals must be Torah observant men who are not related to one another, to the lender or to the borrower. The lender declares before them: “I submit to you judges in this place all of the loans that I have outstanding, and I therefore may collect these loans at any time that I desire.” The lender then fills in the Pruzbul form attached as evidence that he made a Pruzbul.

4. One may make one Pruzbul for all of the loans past due that he has extended. Therefore, the name of the borrower is omitted from the Pruzbul forms.

5. The borrower must have a lien on some amount of land on which the Pruzbul can attach a lien, even a small amount of land. If one suspects that the borrower has no land, the lender may “sell” land to the borrower from his own land. This is accomplished by one of the judges handing a handkerchief to the lender by which all of the borrowers acquire a small amount of land from the lender.

6. The date that the Pruzbul is written must be recorded. The Pruzbul is effective for all loans made before that date. If one makes a loan after the date of the Pruzbul, a new Pruzbul must be written for that loan. If the lender suspects that he will not find suitable judges for a new Pruzbul, he should lend the money and stipulate that he cannot collect the money until the Third of Tishrei which is after the completion of the seventh year.

7. Both men and women are obligated to perform a Pruzbul. A married woman only needs to perform a Pruzbul if she has made loans with her separate assets.

8. If one writes a Pruzbul and it gets lost, he does not have to write a new Pruzbul to replace the lost one.

9. Rabbi Finkelstein is happy to convene an ad hoc beit din any time after services in the morning or evening.

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