Debt Arising from an Obligation and Not from a Loan Regarding the Remission of Debts

Dear Rabbi, thank you for this site, it is very nice. My question is as follows: my friend committed to pay me money if something happened, which it did. I don't want to go into details. Do I need to make a pruzbul so that he will still owe me?

Hello and blessings. Debts that arise from commitments a person makes to a friend (provided the commitment is valid according to Halacha) are not annulled by the Sabbatical year. However, some hold that they are treated like loans and are annulled. Therefore, it is always advisable to make a pruzbul.

We learned in the Tractate Shevi'it (Chapter 10, Mishnah 1) that the Sabbatical year annuls loans documented and undocumented. "Store credit" is not annulled, but if it is made into a loan, it is annulled. "Wages" are not annulled, but if made into a loan, they are annulled. In explaining why "store credit" and "wages" are not annulled, two approaches are mentioned. The first approach - (which is the opinion of most Rishonim, see Tosafot, Gittin 18a, s.v. Me'ematai, Tosafot, Ketubot 55a, s.v. Ve-lashvi'it, and the Rishonim Ketubot there, see Ramban and Ritva there, and Meiri, Gittin 37) only a loan is annulled, but a debt incurred from a sale or wages, or in any other way - is not annulled. The second approach - the opinion of Rambam according to the explanation of Beit Yosef (Choshen Mishpat, Siman 67) and Kesef Mishneh (Chapter 9, Laws of Shemitah and Yovel, Halacha 11), and this is the halachic opinion in Sema (Siman 67, S.K. 26) and Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Laws of Loans, Paragraph 39), that not only a debt incurred by a loan is annulled, but any debt is annulled, even if incurred by a sale or work or in any other way. However, the reason "store credit" and "wages" are not annulled is because in their time it was customary to buy in a store on credit for a long period, and only when a very large amount accumulated, then they would pay. Therefore, at the end of the Sabbatical year, it was not yet a debt due for collection, and therefore it is not annulled. Similarly, regarding "wages", it was customary not to pay immediately but only after a large amount accumulated, and at the end of the Sabbatical year, it was not yet a debt due for collection. There is a practical difference between these two approaches: in our time, when it is customary to pay after a short time, such as a monthly salary paid to an employee, according to most Rishonim, it is not annulled because it is not a debt due to a "loan", but according to Rambam, it is annulled. Similarly, "store credit" in our time, when it is customary to pay once a month, according to most Rishonim, it is not annulled (if not made into a loan) because it is included in the category of "store credit", but according to Rambam, it is annulled because "store credit" mentioned in the Mishnah is only in a case where at the end of the Sabbatical year the debt is not due for collection. However, even in the case of "store credit", if it was "made into a loan", the debt is annulled [and this is the intention of the aforementioned Mishnah "if made into a loan, it is annulled"]. What is "made into a loan", there are many opinions, and we will list some of them: the opinion of Rosh (Tractate Gittin, Chapter 7, Siman 17), that it is setting a time for repayment of the debt before Rosh Hashanah, and the opinion of Mordechai (Tractate Shevuot, page 8 according to Mordechai), if he wrote the summary of all the debt together. (Azmera LeShimcha, Laws of Shemitah).