In I got It!
Jewish Bonds in Greek
Prusbul is an abbreviated form of the Greek word Prusbuliti which is composed of three words Prus which means amendment, Buli which means rich people and Buti which means poor people.
N. Lieberman 01/10/2009 10:00
According to most opinions the Prusbul certificate is signed at the very end of the Shmita year (Shmita is the seventh year in a seven-year cycle during which land of Israel must lie fallow and debts are canceled). The signed Prusbul grants its holder the right to collect his debts even after the Shmita.
Hillel Hazaken, Hillel the elder served as head of Jewish Supreme Court during the second Temple. One of his amendments was the Prusbul certificate. The purpose of its establishment was to enable the poor to find loans on the eve of the Shmita year.
One of the many laws of Shmita is the canceling of all monetary debts. The money lender loses his right to collect his debt from the borrower. Besides annulling the debt, the Torah designated an additional prohibition for those who may have wanted to claim their debt nevertheless. This created the situation in which many of the rich people had no interest in lending money to the poor before Shmita for fear of losing their funds.
It is for this reason that Hillel Hazaken instituted the Prusbul. The mechanics behind the Prusbul is based on the fact that the Shmita only cancels the debts of an individual but it can not cancel the debts that a person has towards the court. Through the Prusbul, the lender gives over his debts to the court and he can later collect the debts as a representative of the court.
The custom of using Prusbul continues to be practiced nowadays and was adopted by some of the major banks in Eretz-Yisroel and even by Jewish banks abroad. In the year 5768 (2008 A.C.) the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Mr. Stanley Fisher signed a Prusbul making the bank of Israel the court’s representative to collect its debts from the bank’s clients.
Hillel Hazaken, Hillel the elder served as head of Jewish Supreme Court during the second Temple. One of his amendments was the Prusbul certificate. The purpose of its establishment was to enable the poor to find loans on the eve of the Shmita year.
One of the many laws of Shmita is the canceling of all monetary debts. The money lender loses his right to collect his debt from the borrower. Besides annulling the debt, the Torah designated an additional prohibition for those who may have wanted to claim their debt nevertheless. This created the situation in which many of the rich people had no interest in lending money to the poor before Shmita for fear of losing their funds.
It is for this reason that Hillel Hazaken instituted the Prusbul. The mechanics behind the Prusbul is based on the fact that the Shmita only cancels the debts of an individual but it can not cancel the debts that a person has towards the court. Through the Prusbul, the lender gives over his debts to the court and he can later collect the debts as a representative of the court.
The custom of using Prusbul continues to be practiced nowadays and was adopted by some of the major banks in Eretz-Yisroel and even by Jewish banks abroad. In the year 5768 (2008 A.C.) the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Mr. Stanley Fisher signed a Prusbul making the bank of Israel the court’s representative to collect its debts from the bank’s clients.
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