אם ירצה ה׳
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"Im kesef talveh et ami, et he'ani imach, lo tihyeh lo kenosheh" — Shemot 22:24
Rashi, six words: "Lo tihyeh lo kenosheh — al tikra 'kenosheh' ela 'kanosheh'" — Do not read it as "creditor" but as "pressing creditor." The pasuk does not forbid lending. It forbids pressing.
The peshat is surgical: when you lend to the poor among My people, you do not become a nosheh — one who presses, who squeezes, who makes the borrower's breath shallow. The money is yours. The dignity is his.
Rav Touitou chlita opens with this: "Donner c'est donner, prêter c'est prêter." Giving is giving. Lending is lending. Two verbs, two worlds. One is tzedakah — vertical, from above to below, no return expected. The other is halvah — horizontal, covenantal, a bridge that must hold weight going both ways.
Remez
The ache beneath: Why does the Torah need to say this at all?
Because we confuse the two. We lend when we mean to give, and we give when we mean to lend. We say "ne t'inquiète pas" — don't worry — when we mean "je compte sur toi" — I'm counting on you. And the borrower hears "prends ton temps" — take your time — when the lender meant "dans quatre mois" — in four months.
But which four months? Of which year?
The remez is the silence after the handshake. The she'elah the soul was already asking: What happens to trust when words become slippery?
Rav Touitou chlita tells of the man in the 19th arrondissement, Robert, the karate coach. Creditors knocked. He fell into depression. He left the world not by suicide, but by ratzon liz'ok — a desire to exit, born of shame. The Torah knew this would happen. That's why it speaks of kenosheh — not the lender, but the pressing.
Derash
The running: From the Talmud Bavli, Bava Metzia 75b, through the Chafetz Chaim, through the streets of Ashdod where Rav David now teaches.
Gmilut chasadim — this is not tzedakah. It is higher. Tzedakah is for the poor. Halvah is for the ani imach — the one who is with you, who stands beside you, who has dignity enough to ask but not to beg.
Rav Touitou chlita brings the French rigor: "Un contrat. Une date. Une monnaie." A contract. A date. A currency. The Chafetz Chaim would weep to see us today, lending without shomrim, without guarantors, without the shtar that protects both parties from themselves.
But here is the Chassidic turn: The halvah is a maschon — a pledge from Hashem. Your health is lent. Your children are lent. Your parnassah is lent. The Land of Israel itself — eretz chemdah tovah u'rechavah — is a maschon. We were thrown out twice not because we sinned, but because we forgot the chazarah — the return. We treated the loan as a gift.
Rav Touitou's voice warms here: "Comme une voiture de fonction." Like a company car. You keep it while you work for the Company. The Company is Hashem. The work is Torah u'mitzvot.
Sod
The practical secret:
When you lend, you are not transferring value. You are creating zichut. The money is a kli — a vessel — but the shefa flows through the kavanah of emunah.
Rav Touitou's kavanah for Tuesday afternoon: Before you open your wallet, open your eyes. Look at the face of the one who asks. Is he ani imach — with you, in the struggle? Or is he kenosheh — already pressing you, already making you small?
The sod is bitachon — but not the bitachon that waits passively. It is the bitachon that builds fences. That takes guarantors. That writes the shtar not because you doubt the borrower, but because you respect the halacha that protects his tzelem Elokim from becoming your kenosheh.
And if he cannot repay? "Lo tihyeh lo kenosheh." Do not press. But do not disappear either. Make a heter iska. Arrange pe'erush. Be nosheh in your lev, not in your peh.
Mussar
The trait that awakens: Sheleimut ha'emunah — the wholeness of trust.
Not the sheleimut that is naive. The sheleimut that is tachbulot — strategic, wise, chacham einav b'rosho. Rav David tells of his friend with the box of bad checks. Forty thousand shekels. "Depuis, je ne prête plus. Je ne donne que des cadeaux." Since then, I don't lend. I only give gifts.
This is the mussar: When halvah becomes kenosheh — when lending becomes pressing — we lose not only the money. We lose the mitzvah for the next ani. We close the tzedakah box of the world.
The middah to cultivate: Yosher — straightness. The yosher that says "prêter c'est prêter" without embarrassment. That does not confuse chesed with tikkun olam sentimentality. That looks the borrower in the eye and says: "I am your brother, not your bank. But I am also not your solution. I am your shaliach for this maschon from Hashem."
Halacha Maaseh
The bridge, the living practice:
Before lending: 1. Ask: "As-tu d'autres dettes?" Do you have other debts? If he owes others and has not paid, you do not lend. You give — tzedakah — what you can afford to lose. 2. Write the shtar. Even to your brother. Especially to your brother. The shtar is shalom bayit — it prevents the kenosheh from entering the room. 3. Take arevot — guarantors. Or mashkon — collateral. Not because you doubt him. Because you respect the halacha that says "lo tasim damim b'veitecha" — do not bring blood upon your house.
When repayment fails: 1. Do not press if he truly has nothing — "im ein lo, al tikra lo." But verify. "Im yesh lo vase yakar" — if he has a valuable vase, he sells it. The bed, the table, the refrigerator — these remain. Dignity has a floor. 2. If you must break your own savings, your own keren hishtalmut, because he did not repay — this is hezek she'eino nikar, invisible damage. He owes you the ribbit you lost. Go to dayanim. 3. If he dies with the debt: The mitzvah of gmilut chasadot does not die. But neither does the chov. The heirs inherit the obligation — unless you mochel, unless you release him, as Rav David released the widow and orphans of the man who never repaid. "Je lui ai dit: ne reviens pas me rembourser."
The kavanah: When you open your hand, say: "Hashem, this is Your machshon. I am the shomer. Let me be nosheh in mercy, not in judgment."
And when you close your hand, remember: Donner c'est donner. Prêter c'est prêter. Two verbs. Two covenants. One chance to make emunah real in the world.