Jewish Law in Transition
How Economic Forces Overcame the Prohibition Against Lending on Interest
by Hillel Gamoran
Hardback (Out of print)
(October 2008)
ISBN: 9780878204625
5.98 x 8.98 inches
Price: $35.00
Out of stock
The prohibition against lending on interest (Exodus 22:24) is a well-known biblical law: “If you lend to any one of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him.” This book explains how and when this law of high moral standing collapsed over the course of the centuries.
The prohibition against lending on interest (Exodus 22:24) is a well-known biblical law: “If you lend to any one of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him.” This prohibition was intended to prevent the wealthy from exploiting the unfortunate. In the course of time, it was seen to have consequences that militated against the economic welfare of Jewish society as a whole. As a result, Jewish law (halakhah) has over the centuries relaxed the biblical injunction, allowing interest charges despite the biblical prohibition. Hillel Gamoran seeks to explain how and when this law of high moral standing collapsed and fell over the course of the centuries. Talmudic rabbis believed that business agreements violated the biblical prohibition against lending in five areas: loans of produce, advance payment for the purchase of goods, buying on credit, mortgages, and investments. The Bible does not consider any of these activities, but all arise in postbiblical literature. How was the biblical law to be applied to situations that had not occurred in biblical times? And how could the rabbis allow these activities when they were hampered from doing so by the laws against lending on interest? To answer these questions, Gamoran examines the biblical prohibition against lending and postulates when it was written, why it was written, and to whom it applied. He then considers the early and later teachers of the Oral Law, the Tannaim and Amoraim, who expanded discussion of the ban in light of various business activities from 70 C.E. to 500 C.E. Finally, he explores how the original tannaitic proscriptions for each of the five activities were upheld or relaxed over the centuries. Each activity is considered in the period of the Geonim (ca. 650-1050), the Rishonim (ca. 1000-1500), and the Aharonim (ca. 1500-2000). For each period, Gamoran shows how the rabbis struggled with the law and with one another and used inventive interpretation to create the legal fictions necessary for business life to flourish.
- By (author) Hillel Gamoran
Similar Books
Invisible Labour in Antiquity
Visualizing Obscure Work in the Ancient Mediterannean and West Asia
Volume 1
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Die Konjunkturkomponente des Grundgesetzes
Die konjunkturbedingte Kreditaufnahme im System der Kreditermächtigungen, europarechtlichen und gesamtwirtschaftlichen Verpflichtungen der Finanzverfassung
Judische Musikerziehung im Preussen des 19. Jahrhunderts
Gesangunterricht an judischen Reformschulen als Facette burgerlicher Akkulturation
Volume 21
Kollektivismus und Individualismus im Aktienrecht
Zum Einfluss aktienrechtlicher Paradigmen auf die Rechtsentwicklung in Deutschland und den USA
Co-production of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Artefacts, Rituals, Communities, Narratives, Doctrines, Concepts
Volume 1
Destruction of Jerusalem and Anti-Jewish Commonplaces in Model Sermon Collections (1100-1350)
Volume 19
Industriestadte
Historische Herausforderungen und aktuelle stadtpolitische Strategien. Tagungsband der 62. Jahrestagung des Sudwestdeutschen Arbeitskreises fur Stadtgeschichtsforschung
Volume 50
Paul and Sacrifice in Corinth
Rethinking Paul's Views on Gentile Cults in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
Volume 623
The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and Scribal Scholarship in Antiquity
Studies in Honor of Arie van der Kooij on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday
Volume 306
Anklage Gottes im Midrasch zu den Klageliedern
Eine Studie zu den Transformationen der Gottesbilder im Midrasch Echa Rabbati
Volume 191
Argumentation, Persuasion und Manipulation in Medientexten und -diskursen
Beitrage zur kontrastiven Medienlinguistik
Volume 20
