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By Dayan Shlomo Cohen | Dayan at Ahavat Shalom, Jerusalem and Author of “Pure Money”
Good Will
Reuven was owed a thousand dollars by his dear friend, Shimon. The debt was already a year old, and Reuven knew that Shimon was having trouble paying it back. Reuven’s business was thriving, and he thought to himself to do Shimon a favor and forgo the debt.
Later that day, Reuven received a phone call from his accountant giving him the good news that sales were up by over 20% this year, and that there was going to be a nice surprise for Reuven at the bottom line.
At that moment, Reuven decided that he would give 10% of his profits to the Torat Hashem Yeshiva, to which he has been donating regularly for the past few years, and that, in addition, he will forgo the debt of $1000 owed to him by Shimon.
Not So Fast
Before Reuven could tell anyone of these two benevolent decisions, he received two phone calls. The first was from Shimon, who called to accuse Reuven of tarnishing his reputation by complaining to mutual friends that Shimon was not paying back his debt. The accusation was totally untrue, but Shimon was too angry to listen, and hung up before Reuven could even explain.
The second call was from the Torat Hashem Yeshiva. The secretary insisted that Reuven had made pledges to the Yeshiva which he had not kept. This too was something Reuven knew was not true, but the secretary was adamant.
At that moment, Reuven decided that he would not forgo the debt owed by Shimon, and that the 10% of his profits which he thought to give to Torat Hashem, he will give instead to another Yeshiva.
We must now inquire whether Reuven’s decision to forgo Shimon’s loan and donate to the Torat Hashem Yeshiva is halachically binding, or whether he can change his mind.
A Verbal Commitment to Forgive a Loan
The Halacha in this situation is that Reuven can change his mind with regards to forgiving Shimon’s debt, but may not do so with regards to the donation he committed to make to the Yeshiva, as we will explain.
The Shulhan Aruch [1] rules that the forgoing of a debt can be done verbally, without any contractual act of a Kinyan. This is not so in the case of a purchase, for example, where a verbal agreement creates a moral obligation to honor one’s words, while only a contractual act of a Kinyan makes it so that it is not possible to now change your mind, as there has been an actual transfer of ownership.
However, even though the forgoing of a debt is different from a purchase in this sense, still, a mere thought does not create even a moral obligation, as the general rule in Jewish monetary law is: “devarim sh’balev enam devarim” – a decision one makes in one’s heart is not binding.
For this reason, Reuven can change his mind and collect the debt from Shimon, even if he previously made up his mind to forgive it. If, however, Reuven said that he has decided to forgo the debt – even if he only told his wife – since he has verbally expressed his intention, the debt has already been forgone, and it would be theft on Reuven’s behalf, to collect the debt from Shimon, regardless of how much he annoyed him.
Loan Forgiveness vs. Tzeddaka Commitment
Nevertheless, a pledge to charity is different. The Rama [2] rules that a positive thought to give charity creates a vow (neder) which must be kept, only that Bet Din have no authority to enforce this vow unless it was verbalized. Although Maran in Shluhan Aruch [3] brings both the opinion which the Rama follows, and another opinion that such a vow can only be made verbally, since a vow is serious prohibition, it is certainly fitting for all to follow the more stringent opinion and keep a vow to charity, even if it was only made mentally. [We must emphasize that we are only discussing a final decision, not a fleeting “maybe” type of thought.]
These two cases stand in contrast to the case of a transaction where a verbal agreement creates a moral obligation, and only the “contractual act” of a Kinyan is the point of no return.
Speaking Truth in Your Heart
To conclude, in our case, Reuven may rescind his decision to forgive Shimon’s loan but should fulfill his mental promise to donate to the Yeshiva. However, the Gemara in Bava Batra [4] references a story about the saintly Rav Safra, who was in the middle of his prayers when a man approached him with a good offer for his merchandise. The customer did not realize that Rav Safra could not answer because he was praying, and thought that the offer was not good enough, so he offered a higher price. Finally, when Rav Safra finished, he turned to the customer and agreed to accept the original offer to which he agreed in his heart, thus fulfilling the Pasuk in Tehillim [5]: ודובר אמת בלבבו – one who speaks truth in his heart.
Sources:
[1] חו”מ סי’ עב ס”ח [2] יו”ד סי’ רנח סי”ג [3] חו”מ סי’ ריב ס”ח [4] פ”ח ע”א [5] ט”ו, ב’
Pullout Quote:
The secretary insisted that Reuven had made pledges to the Yeshiva which he had not kept. This too was something Reuven knew was not true, but the secretary was adamant…