16,374
edits
Taking Interest: Difference between revisions
From Halachipedia
→Lending Commodities for Other Commodities
| Line 76: | Line 76: | ||
# It is rabbinically forbidden to lend items for the same quantity of that item.<ref>Shulchan Aruch 160:21</ref> | # It is rabbinically forbidden to lend items for the same quantity of that item.<ref>Shulchan Aruch 160:21</ref> | ||
# It is Biblically forbidden to lend an item for a greater quantity of that item. For example, lending 100 apples for 120 apples is Biblical interest.<ref>Shulchan Aruch YD 160:21</ref> | # It is Biblically forbidden to lend an item for a greater quantity of that item. For example, lending 100 apples for 120 apples is Biblical interest.<ref>Shulchan Aruch YD 160:21</ref> | ||
# Short selling is a violation of borrowing commodities with interest. This type of transaction between two Jews is forbidden since the leniencies of borrowing commodities, namely, having a fixed market price that endures for a long time or having a position in that the stock one is short selling, are inapplicable.<ref>[https://traditiononline.org/short-selling-and-jewish-law/ Rav Aharon Levine (Tradition Spring 2010 pp. 67-71)] explains that short selling involves borrowing a commodity which is repaid with that commodity and not merely a cash loan. The commodities in this case are the stocks being sold short. Since the marketplace price is in flux constantly that doesn't permit the seah b'seah transaction. Additionally, the fact that selling outside the box is illegal prevents a person from shorting a position he already owns stock in. Therefore, it isn't possible for someone to have the stocks that he is borrowing while doing a short sell.</ref> For a Jewish marketplace this is a serious issue because either way there is an interest charge for borrowing the stocks for the time. Therefore, these issues need to be solved with a heter iska.<ref> [https://www.toraland.org.il/%D7%A9%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%98/%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%95%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%94/%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%A1%D7%A8/ toraland.org.il] cites Torat Ribbit 17:33 that since stocks don't represent ownership of the company it isn't considered ribbit or seah bseah. However, since there's a payment of interest for the value of the stocks that is certainly considered interest and requires a heter iska.</ref> | |||
==Involvement with Interest== | ==Involvement with Interest== | ||
