Debt to a Matchmaker - Shemitat Kesafim and Prozbul

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Question

Hello to the esteemed Gaon Rabbis. I am a yeshiva student in Israel, and no one owes me money. I also have no savings accounts in my name [I am not an Israeli citizen], but I arranged a shidduch and have not yet been paid. If I am not paid by the eve of Rosh Hashanah, am I required to make a Prozbul?

Answer

Debts to a matchmaker are not annulled, but there is an opinion that they are considered as loans and are annulled, so it is advisable to make a Prozbul.

Source

In the Mishnah Shevi'it (Chapter 10, Mishnah 1), it is taught that the seventh year annuls a loan, whether documented or not. "Store credit" is not annulled, but if it is made into a loan, it is annulled. "Wages" are not annulled, but if they are made into a loan, they are annulled. In explaining the reason why "store credit" and "wages" are not annulled, two approaches are given. The first approach - (which is the opinion of most Rishonim, see Tosafot Gittin 18a, Tosafot Ketubot 55a, and other Rishonim Ketubot there, see Ramban and Ritva there, and Meiri Gittin 37) is that only a loan is annulled, but a debt incurred through sale or wages, or in any other way - is not annulled. The second approach - the opinion of Rambam as explained by Beit Yosef (Choshen Mishpat, Siman 67) and Kesef Mishneh (Chapter 9 of the Laws of Shemitah and Yovel, Halacha 11), and so it is in the law in Sema (Siman 67, Sifkaton 26) and Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Laws of Loans, Section 39), that not only a debt created by a loan is annulled, but any debt is annulled, even if created by sale or work or in any other way, but the reason "store credit" and "wages" are not annulled is because in their time it was customary to buy on credit in the store for a long period, and only when a very large amount accumulated, they would pay, and if by the end of the seventh year, it was still not a debt ready for collection, it was not annulled, and similarly regarding "wages", it was customary not to pay immediately but only after a large amount accumulated, and by the end of the seventh year, it was still not a debt ready for collection. There is a practical difference between these two reasons, in our time, when it is generally 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 it was 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 by the end of the seventh year the debt is not ready 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 "and if it was made into a loan, it is annulled"]. What is "making into a loan", there are many opinions, and we will detail some of them: the opinion of the 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 of Mordechai) if he wrote the summary of all the debt together. (Azmara Leshimcha, Laws of Shemitah).

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