Okay, the topic tonight is שמיטת כספים, the Shemitah of money. Actually, last week I said that maybe we'll have the class on שמיטת כספים because last week's shiur was on Shemitah. The reason we had chose Shemitah last week because it was right after שבת פרשת בהר that deals with Shemitah. So, we spoke about Shemitah and I mentioned that in Shemitah we have two parts: there is שמיטת קרקעות and שמיטת כספים, Shemitah of the land and Shemitah of the money. Shemitah of the land, as I explained last week, as we all know, is that there are the years go in a cycle of seven. Six years we were allowed to work in the field, the seventh year we are not allowed to work in the field. This only applies to Eretz Yisrael, that we're not allowed to work in the field, not to plant, not to plow, not to cut through anything that grows, and also we have to open up the fields. Whatever is there is open for the public. Everyone is equal, is allowed to come and take whatever he wants. And we went through all the details, not the halachot, as like we always say, this is not a halachah class, but the details, the hashkafah of what is in Shemitah. Then there is the other part of Shemitah, which is שמיטת כספים, Shemitah of money, which means on the same year of Shemitah as the year concerning the land, there is another din that any loan that was borrowed, you do not have to repay. When Shemitah comes, it's mishamet, we call it. Mishamet means it drops all the loans. So if someone borrows money and didn't manage to pay before Shemitah, when Shemitah comes, the person, the creditor is not allowed to demand the money, not allowed to ask for it, and the borrower doesn't have to pay. As a matter of fact, there is another din, which is a real pasuk in the Torah, where it says that a person is not allowed to hold back a loan before Shemitah thinking that how could I lend him the money now, soon Shemitah will come and he won't pay me? So there is a special pasuk, a lav, it's one of the 365 lavin, negative commandments, where it says, don't dare to think that you'll say קרבה שנת השבע שנת השמטה, since the year of Shemitah is getting close, how could I lend him money, I know I will lose it? So Hashem says, no, you must lend him. If you would have lent him the money otherwise, you have to lend him. See, sometimes you don't have money to lend, so that's something else, but if you would have normally lent him the money and the reason you don't want to lend him the money is because it's getting close to Shemitah, so the pasuk says that this is a lav, this you are transgressing a negative commandment. So when Shemitah comes, you are not allowed to ask for the money. Now this is not only in Eretz Yisrael. Unlike Shemitah of the land, which is only in Eretz Yisrael, Shemitah of the money applies to Chutz La'aretz also, outside of Eretz Yisrael too. But just like shemittah of the land nowadays is only mi'derabbanan in Eretz Yisrael, only mi'derabbanan, which means from the Torah itself this would not apply because there is no yovel, whatever the reason is, we have learn out from pesukim that it does not apply, but mi'derabbanan it does, so now that we have shemittah in Eretz Yisrael in the year of shemittah, it's only mi'derabbanan, so too the din of shemittat kesafim, the fact that the money, the debts fall, the debts don't exist anymore, also is only mi'derabbanan nowadays. But there is an interesting thing here: According to some, if a person would not lend money before shemittah comes because he's afraid since shemittah will come the person will not pay him, this person will transgress a issur de'oraita, a prohibition of the Torah, even though shemittah is only mi'derabbanan. It's a very strange thing. If the whole concept of shemittah is only from derabbanan, but from the Torah there is no shemittat kesafim, so we would think if someone does not lend a person money because he's afraid of shemittah, he cannot in any way transgress a issur of the Torah when the whole shemittah is only mi'derabbanan. But nevertheless, some hold, actually the Rebbe writes a possibility that this is what the Alter Rebbe holds, that if you do not lend money because you're afraid of shemittah, even though the shemittah is mi'derabbanan, you transgressed a issur of the Torah because nevertheless you did not lend because of shemittah, even though the shemittah is mi'derabbanan. But anyway, getting back to the point, there is mi'derabbanan the din of shemittah that you don't have to repay the debts when shemittah comes, the year of shemittah comes, all over the world, that's not only in Eretz Yisrael. The din of shemittah is that if somebody, if the borrower comes to pay, let's say he wants to pay, and שמיטה passed, you have to tell him, \"משמט אני. I'm dropping the loan.\" In other words, \"You don't pay me because it's שמיטה and I'm dropping the loan.\" If the person answers, \"אף על פי כן, but still I want to pay,\" then you're allowed to take it. Not only you're allowed to take it, the Mishnah says, \"כל המחזיר חוב בשביעית, רוח חכמים נוחה הימנו.\" If someone returns a debt even though שמיטה passed, חכמים are very happy with him. In other words, it's a good idea. There are conditions when שמיטה is not משמט, which means when the loans do not fall, do not disappear. One of the conditions, we're not going to go through all the הלכות, one of them is when you make a certain condition before you borrow. But there's another condition: if you are מוסר שטרותיו לבית דין, if you give over all your documents, which means you give over all your loans to the בית דין, to the courts, to the Jewish courts. And now it's not you who is going to collect the money, but now the courts are going to collect the money, then the דין of שמיטה does not apply. And the debts don't drop, because we learn off from a פסוק that it's only if it's a a this not dispute, a a case between one person and another. But if it's the בית דין that is claiming the money, then the בית דין has the right to claim the money even though שמיטה passed. Which is the basis for the whole concept of the prozbul. We know that there is a concept called prozbul, which was instituted by Hillel Hazaken. Prozbul is a document that you would write, saying that \"I give over all my debts, all my שטרות, all my debts to the בית דין.\" And by signing such a document to the בית דין, then the debts don't drop. And then you're still allowed to collect, because basically you're when you come to collect it, you are not collecting it for yourself, you are collecting it for the בית דין, because you gave it over to בית דין. And that's why it says we should all make a prozbul. And that's the custom now that before שמיטה comes, we all make a prozbul, and therefore nowadays, it doesn't apply anymore that the debts drop, because we have a prozbul. Now originally a prozbul was a document that you signed, but the דין, it says in Gemara, פוסקים, Shulchan Aruch, that you don't really have to sign it. If you say in front of three people, \"הריני מוסר לכם, I'm giving over all my debts to you, that I should be able to collect them whenever I want,\" so all the debts that someone owes you till that point when you made the prozbul, you are allowed to collect, because all those debts are given over to the בית דין. Any debt that is owed to you that took place after the prozbul was made, written or said, those you are not allowed to collect. When do you make the prozbul? So obviously you should try to make the prozbul as late as possible, close as possible to the end. What is called the end? Now the הלכה is that שמיטה is משמט בסופה, which means when does that that take place, that all the debts disappear, at the end of the seventh year. So, we would think you should make a prozbul the end of the שמיטה year, because the last moment of שמיטה, that's when it happens, that's when it takes place, so you try to do it as late as possible to include all the debts. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe says that there is an opinion that already from the beginning of the seventh year, you are not allowed to collect. And therefore, he says you should make the prozbul at the end of the sixth year. And he advised people to do it on Erev Rosh Hashanah of shemitah, when the coming year will be shemitah, on Erev Rosh Hashanah, and anyway we have a custom to do התרת נדרים in the morning after davenen, after Erev Rosh Hashanah. So we anyway have a beit din gathered together for that, so at that same time when we make התרת נדרים, right after each one finishes saying his part, should say those words, that line, \"הריני מוסר לכם כל שטרותי שאגבם כל זמן שארצה, that I'm giving over my documents to you, that I should be able to collect them whenever I want.\" And they will work for all the debts that take place till then. And this is all based on this logic that if you give over your שטרות to beit din, then you are allowed to collect. This is basically the halachot of, the general concepts of שמיטת כספים together with the prozbul. Now when we talk about שמיטת כספים, the common accepted understanding is that when shemitah comes, the debt disappears. The person doesn't owe you the money anymore. The Torah says that when shemitah comes, the person doesn't owe you the money anymore.

But the Rebbe has an interesting chiddush, and he brings raayot, he brings proofs that it is not so. That when shemitah comes, the person still owes you the money, which means you still have, he would call it, a shi'abud on the money that that person owes you. The debt did not disappear, and nevertheless the Torah said you can't collect. It's some kind of strange phenomenon, it's kind of a strange thing. Normally we know that something, if someone owes you something, he must pay you, and if we say he doesn't have to pay you, it's because he doesn't owe you. How do you get someone to not owe you any money if he borrowed? Or he paid you, or you were mochel, you said, \"I forgive you the money.\" And what happens then? Then not only doesn't he have to pay you, he doesn't owe you. But there be such a thing that he owes you the money, but nevertheless the Torah says you don't have to pay, that's something very strange. And the Rebbe brings raayot that this is what shemitah is, unlike the common understanding that it's because there is no more debt. There is a debt! The person owes you the money. The debt does not disappear unless he pays you. But this is a special din that the Torah said that when shemitah comes, you don't have to pay for the debt. One of the proofs he gives is from the din I mentioned before where it says, המחזיר חוב בשביעית רוח חכמים נוחה הימנו, if a person returns the money after shemitah even though he doesn't have to, the chachamim are happy, it's a good idea. Now if the debt disappeared, then why is it a good idea? If he doesn't owe you any money anymore, if the Torah says he doesn't owe you money, why would it be a good idea to repay it? Imagine if someone paid you already. Would it make sense to say, \"Well, he paid you, it's a good idea to pay him again\"? Makes no sense, he doesn't owe you any money, why should he pay you? Or if you're mochel, you forgive him the loan, you say, \"You don't owe me, you're forgiven, al pi din he doesn't owe you,\" it's a good idea to give? Where does it... If he doesn't owe you, there's no such thing. How come here it's a good idea to pay even after shemitah? Also the Gemara, the Mishnah calls it, המחזיר חוב בשביעית, if you return a debt. It's not a debt anymore! Why call it a chov, why call it a debt? And many more raayot that the Rebbe brings that the debt remains a debt. He owes you, there is a loan still going on here, but the Torah says you don't have to pay. And we will see soon how if you go along with this understanding of שמיטת כספים, of shemita of money, it adds a certain dimension in what שמיטת כספים has to accomplish.

As we always do, the whole idea of this class is to explain the השקפה aspect of these מצוות or any subject that we discuss. So what is the השקפה aspect behind the mitzvah of שמיטת כספים, the fact that the Torah says once in seven years all the loans drop? So the Sefer HaChinuch says that this is similar to the השקפה of שמיטת קרקע, שמיטת קרקעות, of shemita of the land, as I explained at length last week, which is that we know that everything that we have comes from Hashem. All the money that we make comes from Hashem, the livelihood that we make comes from Hashem, the food that we get comes from Hashem. Even though I own a field and the food grows on the field, and it seems that it's my effort that made it grow, I planted, I plowed, I did everything, so it's my effort that made it grow, but it's not true. To think that way, as I explained last week, is borders with עבודה זרה. It's like thinking that there is somebody else, another power in the world besides Hashem, that I have a power to gain, to get, which is not true, it's all from Hashem. The reason I have to work is only because Hashem said, \"I will give you the blessing when you make a כלי in דרך הטבע, when you make a vessel in a natural way.\" Hashem wants us to work naturally. So the reason we work is because He wants us to work, and He says, \"If you will work natural, I will give you the beracha.\" But we have to remember that even though we work, and it seems like the more effort we put in, the more money we make, and the more livelihood we have, the more parnasa we have, it's not true. It's Hashem. This is only the כלי. So the problem is that from time to time we forget. It's very hard to have this feeling when you work and you see fruits of your effort, of your labor. So Hashem said once in seven years, \"I want you not to work a whole year, and you'll see that you'll make the same parnasa.\" When you stop working, you express your true emunah u'bitachon in Hashem, that everything comes from Hashem, and therefore, I'm ready not to work if Hashem wants me not to work, and I'm not worried. I'm not worried I won't have what to eat. And Hashem says, \"You might wonder, I'm telling you I'll give you enough to eat.\" So this instills in a ייד the emunah u'bitachon in Hashem, and the realization that everything is from Hashem. And as I explained last week, it's not only for the year of shemita. The whole purpose of the year of shemita is for the six years after shemita, that when one year you don't work, and one year you're absorbed with this feeling that everything comes from Hashem, it instills it in you that now, when you do continue working the next year, and the next year, and the next year, you realize that even while you're working and your effort brings your fruit, you realize it all comes from Hashem. This is the major philosophy behind the דין of שמיטת קרקעות, the shemita of the land. The same idea, the Chinuch says, is with שמיטת כספים. There is money that I earned, it's my money. I earned it legally, I didn't steal it, it's my money. I lent it to a certain person, and that person has to return it to me. It's my money, he owes it to me. Nevertheless, comes Hashem and he says, \"Once in seven years, I want those loans to drop, and you'll see that by doing that, you will get the feeling and understand that I am the baal habayit, Hashem. All your money belongs to me. And therefore, if I want him to return it, he should return it. If I don't want him to return it, he doesn't have to return it. You are not the baal habayit of the money. It's not yours.\" And it's not only on the money that you lent and didn't get back that you get the feeling. The purpose is that it's supposed to make you feel concerning all your money, just like by שמיטת קרקע we said it's not only during the year when you don't work, during the year of Shemitah, that's when you get this feeling of emunah u'vitachon in Hashem, it's supposed to make that when you do work, you will also have the emunah u'vitachon in Hashem. Same thing here. It's not only concerning the money that you gave, that you lent and now you're not getting it back, so you get the feeling that that money is not mine, obviously, if I'm not getting it back, and the reason is because Hashem doesn't want me to take it, he's telling him not to give it back, and he's telling me not to ask for it, I'm not allowed to ask for it, so this money belongs to Hashem, that's not the only purpose. The purpose is to tell me that any money that I have belongs to Hashem. There's a pasuk that says, \"כי לי הכסף ולי הזהב נאום השם.\" Hashem says, \"All the gold and silver belongs to me. It's mine.\" Now, some people think that the meaning of this pasuk is that Hashem saying, \"I have a lot of gold and silver.\" He does. He has so much, much more than anybody could imagine. That's not what the pasuk means. The pasuk means that all the gold and silver is mine, that any gold and silver that's yours really is mine. You think it's yours? It's all mine, and I'm in control. But we keep on forgetting, you know, it's my money, and I earned it, and I earned it in a kasher way, and it's really mine. And if I lent it, you have to return it, and you do have to return it, in all case, most cases if I lent money, the borrower has to return it. Nevertheless, Hashem says, \"I want to show you that it's not really yours. And therefore, one year, I say don't return it.\" And by me accepting it and not asking for it, so automatically, it instills in the person this feeling that everything that I own is really Hashem's, and he's in control. Now, there is another aspect to this. There is something more in this philosophy in שמיטת כספים, in Shemitah of the money over the Shemitah of the קרקע, the land. And it's all according to the way the Rebbe explains it, that the debt remains, he owes you the money, but he doesn't have to pay. Why? How? Last week I mentioned, after I explained the whole concept of Shemitah, I said that really Shabbos is the same. It says the same thing by Shabbos. Why did Hashem make that one day a week we can't work? For the same reason, because during the week when we work, we get the feeling that everything is ours, it's my effort that got me whatever I have. So Hashem says, \"One day a week, don't work. Don't work, trust Hashem.\" So, by not working one day a week, we trust Hashem, so we express our emunah u'vitachon, and therefore, during the other six days afterwards that we do work, we have this feeling of bitachon and emunah in Hashem from Shabbos. But if we have Shabbos every week, why do we also need the mitzvah of Shemitah? So, I explained there is something in מצות שמיטה over Shabbos, and that is Shabbos we're not allowed to do any work, no melachah, none of the 39 general melachot, no work at all. It's a day where we are basically beyond the materialistic world. During the year of shemittah, it's not so. During the year of shemittah, we are regular people, it's weekdays, except the Shabbatim of shemittah, but they're regular weekdays, and we're allowed to work So Shabbat, as much as it gives us the feeling that we every we have bitachon in Hashem, but we see that when we are completely beyond the world, then we're connected to Hashem, then we have our trust in Hashem. We need more than that. We need to show that while we are involved in the world, we have the true emunah and bitachon in Hashem. That Shabbat doesn't really give, because Shabbat we're completely isolated from the world. Completely different, okay. So Shabbat, we're like malachim, so when we are like malachim, we don't need the world and we are connected to Hashem. But at the time when we are involved in worldly matters, then we have to behave like everybody and we have to have the feeling that the nature is the baal habayit, the in control, and that's it. We don't have that from Shabbat. But from shemittah, we do get it. For shemittah, we get this feeling that even though we are involved in the world, nevertheless, we have our emunah and bitachon. Now, there is another thing, on the other hand, that we see that Shabbat has more than shemittah, shemittah doesn't have. See, a shemittah, as I mentioned the din, we have to open up our fields as if during the year of shemittah our land doesn't belong to us. The din is that we have to open up our fields, allow anybody who wants to come in and take. So, we don't own the land. Shabbat, no such thing. Doesn't say anywhere that Shabbat we don't own the land. Shabbat, the land is still ours. Doesn't say you're not מפקיר, you don't give up your ownership. So, it would seem like this, that shemittah, even though we show that we trust in Hashem, but it's as if saying when we don't have any land, we trust Hashem, because we don't have any land. But something that's mine and I still have to trust in Hashem, even though it's mine, and if it's mine, I should have the right to do with it whatever I want, and I should have the right to work, that we don't see in shemittah. Shemittah, we don't own the land. See, in Shabbat, we see that more. Shabbat, it's mine and still I don't work. But shemittah, we don't see it. In שמיטת כספים, we do see it. In שמיטת כספים, the shemittah of the money, we see it, according to the way that the Rebbe explains it. The way the Rebbe explains it that it's not that when Shemitah comes, the money that I lent is not owed to me. Then we could say, okay, the money that's not owed, it's not mine anymore. But what we have to show here is that the money that is mine is not really mine. The money that I do own is not really mine. Where do we see that? And that's what we see from שמיטת כספים. That's the way the Rebbe explains it in the halachah aspect of it, that the money of of that I lent is my money. And while Shemitah comes, it's still my money. I'm the owner of it. And nevertheless, the Torah says, don't give it to him and then you don't have to, and I can't ask for it. That means that the Torah is trying to instill within us this feeling, not only that there are two parts: there is being in the materialistic world, then there is giving up, and when you give up, then you're giving up, giving yourself over to Hashem and you trust Hashem. We have to combine the two. We have to realize that when we have money, we the money is not ours. And that makes it much easier for us to get the feeling on the other money. See, like this, we're saying that not only on the money that we lent we have to feel is not mine, is Hashem's, we have to feel that the money that we have in our pockets is our is not ours, but Hashem's. So if we would say שמיטת כספים means that the money is not ours at all, so we could say like this: Hashem says certain money is yours, certain money I take away from you. Fine. But whatever is ours, it's mine, and I'm the baal habayit and I could do what I want with it, it's mine. What we need to know is that the money that I own is not mine really, it's all Hashem's. And that we see from this שמיטת כספים, that even though the money is mine, it's still owed to me, as the Rebbe says, nevertheless, I do not I cannot ask for it, I won't ask for it because Hashem said so. So this gives me the feeling that what I own is not really mine, it's really Hashem's. But

I want to elaborate in this thing that I'm saying here, that the money usually my own money is not really mine, there's a deeper aspect to it. Because when we say the money that I own, in truth, it's really mine. And nevertheless, it's Hashem's. It sounds a little strange what I'm trying to say, I'm not clear yet. When it comes to money specifically, there's a special concept here that Hashem gave away the money to us. The money that we own, He gave it to us. And I'll explain what I mean. I explained this once more at length when we discussed the topic called the Power of Money in Jewish Tradition. We find an interesting halachah. The din is that before a person eats, for instance, you have to make a brachah. And not only before you eat, before you drink, before you smell, before you have any pleasure, before your body has any pleasure, you have to make a brachah. That's called ברכת הנהנין, the brachah of pleasure, you have to make a brachah. What is the reason you have to make a brachah? So it says clearly in the Gemara and in Shulchan Aruch, it's נטילת רשות. You need permission from Hashem. You are your body, you are not in control, it's not yours, and you need permission from Hashem to eat the food. You need permission from Hashem to drink it. Otherwise, you're stealing. It says if you eat without a brachah, you're stealing from Hashem. It's not yours. But the question that comes up is, why is it that only when your body has pleasure you have to have permission? What about when you make money? How come there is no brachah before you get your salary and you're making, earning money, you should have to make a brachah! Imagine you're getting something. You're not getting הנאת הגוף, your body, but you're getting הנאת ממון! You're getting hana'ah, you're getting, and the money belongs to Hashem, and how could you get it? How could you take it? You have to thank, not thank, you have to get permission. Nu, we do find that you have to thank Hashem, that's for sure. You have to thank Hashem and say Baruch Hashem, and you have to do all that. But that's not asking permission. Doesn't say you have to ask permission. That's thanking Hashem. Just like with the food, you have to thank Hashem after you eat, you have to thank. So you have to thank Hashem. It says חייב אדם לברך על הטובה. Any good that comes to you when you make money, there are certain berachot that it says you make hatov vehametiv, whatever, but not asking permission. That's thanks. That's not permission. The best proof it's not permission, because it says כשם שמברכים על הטובה כך מברכים על הרע. You have to bless Hashem even when something bad happens to you, because you know it's all for the good. It's not asking permission. It's any good that happens you have to thank Hashem, anything that happens to you you have to say Baruch Hashem. But it doesn't say anywhere that you have to ask permission for the money that you have. What is the difference? That's not a berachah. That's not a berachah. Oh, good, that's that's doing what Hashem wants. But there's no din of making a berachah that you have to ask רשות from Hashem to get the money. Oh no, that's thanking Hashem for knowing that it's from Him, but there's no din of נטילת רשות. There is no din by by by money. And the answer is the way Hashem gave us our body, ourselves, and the way Hashem gives us our money are two different ways. Concerning our body, it says clearly that our bodies are only a pikadon for us. It's only given to us to safekeep. Hashem didn't give it away to us. It's not ours. It says why in Shulchan Aruch, why can't a person, he's not allowed to be מזיק himself, why can't he hurt himself or cause damage to his body? So the reason it says is, you know why? Because it's not yours. You have no right to do anything to it. Just like you can't be מזיק, damage someone else's property, by damaging your body, you're damaging Hashem's property, because it says the body doesn't belong to you. That's what it says. In other words, the prohibition of hurting one's body, damaging one's body, is not only an issur, which is a prohibition Hashem said you're not allowed to do, it also falls into the issur of דיני ממונות. It's a monetary prohibition, besides an issur of the Torah. It's like just like why aren't you allowed to damage someone else's property? Hashem said you're not allowed to, that's true, but besides that, that falls into the גדרים, into the category of דיני ממונות. It's a monetary problem here. Just like you can't steal from somebody, you can't damage his property. So hurting your body, besides the aveirah of it, also you're stealing from Hashem, because it's not yours. By money, it doesn't say that. Money is ours. When Hashem, when we make money, obviously in a kasher way, the money was really given to us by Hashem, not as a pikadon. It's given to us as a present. Hashem gives it to us and it's ours. This that there is a din of בל תשחית, the fact that I'm not allowed to destroy property, destroy money, throw away money, is not because I'm stealing it from somebody. That's an issur. It's a prohibition. That's why it's not only of mine, somebody else's also. I mean that's it's not, somebody else's would be taka because of you're you're hurting his thing, but the issur of בל תשחית is an aveirah. You're not allowed to destroy anything that's useful. But there is no thing saying that the money that I made is not mine. It's interesting, that's why we find, when I say when it comes, I want to explain why first before we get into other Why is it, or where do we see that the way Hashem gave us our body is different than the way He gives us our money, which is the reason why anything that our body has to have pleasure, we need to get permission because it's not ours? But when it comes to the money, we don't need permission because it's given to us, we don't need special permission, you have to thank Him, but we don't have to have permission. What's the reason for the difference? Where do we see the difference? The difference is very simple. The way we are, we're alive. There is chayut in us, there is life within us. The life that we have is ruchani, is spiritual. Money is physical, and money has no life. Money has no chayut, it has kiyum. There are two expressions in לשון קודש, in Hebrew: chayut and kiyum. Chayut is alive, things which are alive. Kiyum is existence. Money has kiyum, doesn't have chayut. Life is ruchani. So when Hashem gave us our life, He did not remove Himself completely. He left the spirituality there, which means He left His part there in a revealed way. Everything comes from Hashem, but we don't see it. This comes from Hashem, and Hashem makes it exist, but we don't see it. And the fact that we're alive, the nefesh that we have, the life that we have is not tangible, that's ruchani. And ruchniyut is Hashem. And therefore, we see that the way Hashem gave us our life, ourselves, is in a way that He says, \"As much as I removed myself, and when you look, you don't see Godliness, but I left myself there in a certain level of revelation.\" While in money, which doesn't have any life, there is no ruchniyut there. Obviously, Hashem removed Himself completely. So He says, \"Here, this I removed myself, now I've left it for you. Here, as much as I removed myself, I left myself still there in a revealed way.\" But to go a step further, in truth, this is mainly by a Yid. Because by a goy, even though a goy's body has life, so it has ruchani, but in truth, the ruchniyut of the life of a non-Jew is still part of nature, not anything beyond nature. Which means within the nature itself there are things which are alive. So the life, it's more ruchani than the tangible physical thing of the gashmi, but it's still not really ruchniyut because this is part of nature. The world has things which are alive. A Jew has, besides the fact that he's alive from the natural way that human beings are alive, Hashem put into a Yid a nefesh Elokit, a Godly soul. And that Godly soul gives him life. And that's not something that's natural, because as far as nature is concerned, we don't need it. We would live without that Godly soul, as the גוים להבדיל live, as animals להבדיל live. They also have a nefesh, they don't have a Godly nefesh, but they have a nefesh, they're alive. The best proof is if a dog dies, you have the body and he's not alive. So there is something spiritual there, but that's part of nature. We have something beyond it, which we cannot prove, if someone doesn't believe it, we can't prove it to him. But the Torah says so, so we know it's true. So we as human beings, Yidden human beings, have Godliness within us. In other words, when Hashem created us, or Hashem makes us exist, I'm living now, there is Godliness within me, which means that even though Hashem gave the body to me, He didn't really give it to me, He never left it. And therefore, it's His, and we need permission for anything that has to do with the body. While when it comes to money, which is just physical things, there He removed Himself completely, there is no Godliness there. And therefore, if He gave it to us, He removed Himself, now it's yours. This is the reason why we can't hurt ourselves, because we need permission from Hashem. The Gemara says that התורה נתנה רשות לרופא לרפאות, the Torah gave permission to a doctor to cure. Why do we need permission to cure? Why do we need special permission from Hashem, from the Torah to cure? The answer is if a doctor is going to do something to your body, he has no right to do it. Not only because he is doing it to you, you'll give him permission, you'll say, \"I'm ready to do it,\" we ourselves have no permission over our body, so how could anybody touch and do anything? But Hashem gave us permission. In other words, since it's not ours, it's only a pikadon, it's according to the rules of the owner is what we can do. So the owner says, \"If you're going to hurt yourself, I don't give you permission,\" so we're not allowed to. \"If you're going to cure, I give permission to touch the body and to do something to the body.\" And even if sometimes it means that the doctor has to hurt you in order to heal you, the Torah says I give him permission. But it's only because Hashem gave permission. But if he wouldn't give permission, that wouldn't be allowed, because the body is not ours. It's interesting, that's why the Gemara says that tzadikim, interesting גמרא, צדיקים ממונם חביב עליהם יותר מגופם. Their money is more beloved to them, more precious to them than their body. And the Gemara gives the reason, מפני שלא פשטו ידם בגזל, because the money that they earned didn't come from gezel, didn't come from stealing. So therefore, it's so precious to them. What does that mean? Why is it more than their body? Why can't we say their body should be precious to them, שלא פשטו ידם בטרפה, שלא פשטו גופם בנבילה? They didn't eat treifot, they didn't eat chazir, so their body should be precious, that they didn't do anything wrong with it. The answer is very simple, the way I explained before. The body is not theirs to begin with. The money is theirs. So when they do a mitzvah with their money, they are giving to Hashem something more that's theirs than if they give something of their body. When they do something good with their body, it's to begin with not really theirs, it's Hashem's. So when they elevate the body, they're elevating something which is to begin with Hashem's. But here when we elevate the money, we do something good with the money, this is really what I am. That's really me, that's really, really part of me, because the money is mine, money I own. That's what it is. That's the difference between money and the body. That's what, that's why it says רבי מכבד עשירים, one of the reasons, Rabbi would give a lot of respect to rich people. Why did he do that? Not like nowadays you give rich people because you hope to get something from them. Rabbi didn't need anything from the rich people. Rabbi was richer than the richest person in the world. Him and Antoninus were the two richest people in the world, I mean, he didn't need anything. But Rabbi looked and saw that these rich people have a lot of money, they have an opportunity, Hashem gave them this special present, an opportunity, to elevate part of what is really themselves, while people who don't have money might do great avodah with their body, mitzvot, but it's all with their body, which is not really theirs. Who has the ability to do something which is theirs and give it away? That's the rich people, because that's more themselves. That's why we find naturally that it's harder for a person to part with money than anything else. A person will do mitzvot, will do things, but to part with your money is a very, very hard thing naturally. Why? Because money is really you, the real, real thing which we don't know, subconscious, the real what is really given to me, which I really own, that's money. While everything else I don't really own, my body I don't own, I need permission. But comes to money, I don't need permission from Hashem, because it's mine. Nevertheless, we have to remember that even the money which is mine, which is really, really mine, the money that I own, that itself is really Hashem's. Now, how is it? Well, we find even naturally that there are certain things which are mine, but then there is somebody on top of me that I own it, באופן פרטי we call it, in a specific way, but generally speaking, it belongs to somebody else. The best example is from the government. If I own property in the United States, it's mine, in truth, the government owns it. The government owns the whole country. They're the ultimate owners and that's why there is what we call eminent domain, that if they want, they could force me out. Okay, they'll pay me, because they don't want me to lose money, but they have the right, if it's for the benefit of the public, whatever the rules are. This is the whole idea of paying taxes. Why do we have to pay taxes to the government? Besides the idea that since they're doing things for us, we have to pay for it, they're paving the streets, they have a police department, a fire department, but it's besides that. Because really the property is not really mine. It all started with Yosef. Where did this tax business start? If you have any complaints, we go to Yosef Hatzadik. What happened in Mitzrayim? Mitzrayim, there was a hunger, and they first they bought food from Yosef by paying, then they didn't have any money, so they paid with they gave with animals and slaves, then they gave him away their land. And then what Yosef did was, what did Yosef do with all the land that they gave him? He gave it back to them. What he did was, to make sure people shouldn't think it's theirs, so he switched the people around from one end of the country to the other, and he gave them land and he said, you work on the land. But remember, the land I gave you is yours, but it's not really yours, it's really mine, it really belongs to the government. And therefore the Chumash says, he said, whatever will grow, divide it, four parts keep, and a fifth, which really means 25%, according to the Torah a fifth is 25%, it says it מלגיו. So, 25% taxes you have to give to the government. Why? Because really it's not yours. Really you're just a worker. The land, so to a certain level it's yours, but in essence it's not yours, it belongs to the government. And the same thing here. Hashem, we said, gave us the money that we have, He gave it to us and it's ours. And at the same time Hashem says, לי הכסף ולי הזהב נאום ה' Hashem, Hashem says, the money is Mine. The money that we own, and as I explained before, we really own it, Hashem says, ultimately, it is really Mine. He owns it. So we have two points here. Number one, the money we really own, but even that, why do we own it? Because He gave it to us. That's number one. Number two, even after He gave it to us and we own it, ultimately, it's really His. Where do we see this? In שמיטת כספים. That's what שמיטת כספים is. That Hashem wants to show you that the money that you own, and you really own, that's why it's money. See, the shemittah of karka is land, other מצות, שמיטת כספים is exact, specifically with money. Hashem wants us to feel that the money that we have, which is really, really ours, more than ourselves, more than our bodies, we should remember that this comes from Hashem and we have to follow the instructions of Hashem. And in simple terms, you want to say in very If you want to put it down in simple terms, if someone gives you something, even if though it becomes yours, the person that gives it to you has a right to make conditions. It's I'm giving it to you, but I want you to do this, I want you to do that. Here too, Hashem gave us the money. So we have to remember He made conditions, and He said, \"Certain times I want you to collect, certain times I don't want you to collect. This is what I want you to do with the money, this is what I don't want you to do with the money.\" And this is all because even when we own it, since we are obligated to listen to His conditions, ultimately He is in control. It's an interesting thing. If I give somebody a present with many conditions throughout the whole time, so throughout the whole time, as much as it's his, but because my conditions control, I'm really in control. So this is what Hashem, and Hashem wants us to do it, so we He said, \"I want you shemittah and not to collect. I'm giving it to you, but in these and these conditions.\" And this instills within us the understanding that the money that we have, which is deeper than anything else, the money which is really ours is really, really, ultimately belongs to Hashem. He gave it to us, that's number one, and even while we have it, it really belongs to Him and He is in control.

I want to say one more point. We know that it says that whatever mitzvah Hashem gives us, He Himself keeps also. So there's a mitzvah of שמיטת כספים that when shemittah comes, the loans, the debts drop, Hashem keeps the same mitzvah. What is it? So, just in short, in Pirkei Avot that we're learning these weeks, it says that the store is open, החנות פתוחה, the store is open, and the storekeeper is there and he lends, החנוני the the storekeeper, the owner lends, and the פנקס פתוח, the book is open, everything is written, whoever wants could come and lend, which means Hashem lends to us. What does He lend us? What does He give us? Well, He gives us בני חיי ומזוני, He gives us children and life and parnasah, He gives us everything that we have. Hashem gives it to us. But He gives it to us in the form of a loan. He says, \"I'm not giving it to you in the form of a matanah, it's not a present, it's a loan.\" And a loan means you have to pay. And the expression says the גובה, the Gemara says in ירושלמי גובה דיליה, Hashem will collect, Hashem wants to collect. How do you pay? How do you pay Hashem back? Well, Hashem says, \"I'll tell you what. Everything you pay according to what I give you. If I give you children, you have to pay back by educating them in the proper way and teaching them mitzvot and Torah and etc., etc. I give you money, I want you to give tzedakah and do the right thing with the money. I give you life, so like the pasuk says, ימים יוצרו ולא אחד בהם, every day of your life has to be full of good things. So how do you pay back the loan that Hashem gave you life? Use your life for good deeds.\" That's the loan. Unfortunately, time passes and we have to pay, and sometimes we don't pay up as we're supposed to. And time passes, and the debt gets bigger and bigger. And what happens then? We're in trouble. So Hashem says that once in a while, once in seven years, I will drop the debt. I will drop it, I will not collect, and from now on you start a new slate, you could start again. And that's what shemittah is. Shemittah is I drop the debt and I can't collect, can't ask to collect, and drop it. But it has to be in shemittah. What is a year of shemittah? As we said before, a year of shemittah is when we express our emunah and bitachon in Hashem. He says, \"Even though you didn't do it till now, but if now you put yourself in to have the proper and emunah in Hashem,\" Hashem says, \"I will drop the debts. And I will not claim anymore, and I will continue giving more. I'll give you again and again, because the debts that you didn't pay before doesn't count.\" But there's another condition. If you give over your debts to a בית דין, then the debts don't drop. When is שמיטה משמט? If you didn't give it over to the בית דין. What does that mean? We have a בית דין של מעלה. There is a בית דין של מעלה, and the בית דין, the court, the high court looks into everything, and the high court doesn't forgive. Hashem could forgive, but the high court doesn't forgive. So if our debts are in the hands of the courts, of the בית דין של מעלה, then we're in trouble. It'll never drop, and we'll always the debts will grow, and who knows what'll happen. What we have to do is get out of the בית דין של מעלה, take our debts out, and put ourselves into the hands of Hashem himself. The בית דין של מעלה is din. בית דין. What's din? Din is צמצום. דין is exact, being exact. And they look at everything exact, and if things don't fit, then they take their precautions, they do what they're supposed to. In order for us to get out of the בית דין, we have to do something which is not in the form of דין, and that is lifnim mishurat hadin. If we behave according to the דין, then they behave with us from above according to the דין. And if we're according to the דין, we're in the hands of the בית דין, and if we're in the hands of the בית דין, the debts will never disappear. But if we go beyond the דין, as I explained once before in the שיעור, בנוגע מנהגים, that we go more than the דין, then the בית דין של מעלה, they have no control here because they say, \"Well, you're beyond the דין, so then we're out of the picture.\" Who do we connect ourselves when we're beyond the דין? That's to Hashem himself. And when we go to Hashem himself, then Hashem says, \"Then I am able to wipe out your debts, and from now on you'll start, you'll start paying, but I'll lend you again.\" And this is the way Hashem keeps the mitzvah of shemittah in connection to us, that He drops our debts. And it's all dependent on us if we take it out of the hands of the בית דין של מעלה. And if we do the mitzvah of שמיטה ברוחניות, then Hashem will help and we will have the mitzvah of שמיטה בגשמיות, not only מדרבנן as we have it now, but we'll have it מדאורייתא when Mashiach will come במהרה בימינו. True, the Rebbe said it in that year, when it was the year of shemittah. That's when the Rebbe explained this. So I assume that then it's more, but probably anytime where we have that connection to this bitachon and emunah that shemittah represents, it'll do the same. I would imagine, but it doesn't say that. I don't know exactly. Look in the calendar, I don't know which, a shemittah a few years ago, three years ago, something, I don't know. Which year it was, I don't remember. Generally. But a person, a Yid is able to go beyond it. Yeah, it says a Yid is able to go beyond it. The Oibershter has to, you know, has to go over their heads, which He doesn't like to do, but if we go over the head of the בית דין, the Oibershter does, it says that. Sure He could. All the time when it says that if we do teshuvah, we learn it in Ein Yaakov, the Oibershter tears the גזר דין. Ai the גזר דין is from the בית דין, it goes it goes higher than the בית דין, yes. But to tell you the truth, it says in Shulchan Aruch that nowadays, even if you didn't make a פרוזבול, it doesn't negate it. Why? Because since most people make פרוזבולs, so when you lend when you lend the money, it's as if you're lending on condition that you will pay and you will have the פרוזבול. So even if you didn't b'foal make the פרוזבול, that's as if you made the פרוזבול, and you have to pay. So Shemitah is not משמט now. I didn't want to say it the whole time because I would defeat the whole purpose of what I was trying to bring out. But that's what it is. Right, right, right, right. Okay, everybody.