Talmud Tuesday - Session 29

B'Shemah Omro: Much of this material was collected and taught by Dr. Sara Labaton, the Director of Teaching and Learning at Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.

משנה אבות א׳:י״ד

(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:

Pirkei Avot 1:14

(14) He [Rabbi Hillel] used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

בבא מציעא ע״א א:ג׳-ד׳

איכא דמתני לה להא דרב הונא אהא דתני רב יוסף (שמות כב, כד) אם כסף תלוה את עמי את העני עמך עמי ונכרי עמי קודם עני ועשיר עני קודם ענייך ועניי עירך ענייך קודמין עניי עירך ועניי עיר אחרת עניי עירך קודמין אמר מר עמי ונכרי עמי קודם פשיטא אמר רב נחמן אמר לי הונא לא נצרכא דאפילו לנכרי ברבית ולישראל בחנם

Bava Metzia 71a:3-4

There are those who teach that which Rav Huna said in connection with that which Rav Yosef taught: The verse states: “If you lend money to any of My people, even to the poor person who is with you” (Exodus 22:24). The term “My people” teaches that if one of My people, i.e., a Jew, and a gentile both come to borrow money from you, My people take precedence. The term “the poor person” teaches that if a poor person and a rich person come to borrow money, the poor person takes precedence. And from the term: “Who is with you,” it is derived: If your poor person, meaning one of your relatives, and one of the poor of your city come to borrow money, your poor person takes precedence. If it is between one of the poor of your city and one of the poor of another city, the one of the poor of your city takes precedence. The Master said above: If one of My people and a gentile come to you for a loan, My people take precedence. The Gemara asks: Isn’t this obvious? Is there any reason to think that a gentile would take precedence over a Jew? Rav Naḥman said that Rav Huna said to me: It is necessary only to teach that even if the choice is to lend money to a gentile with interest or to a Jew for free, without interest, one must still give preference to the Jew and lend the money to him, even though this will entail a lack of profit.

Tosefta Bava Metzia 11:33-35

A well-spring that belongs to one city — if they must choose between themselves and others, they come before others. If the choice is between others and their own cattle, the lives of others take precedence over their own cattle. Rabbi Yossi says: 'Their cattle take precedence over the lives of others.'
If the choice is between their cattle and the cattle of others, their cattle take precedence over the cattle of others.
If the choice is between others and their own laundry, the lives of others take precedence over their laundry. Rabbi Yossi says, 'Their laundry takes precedence over the lives of others.'

Meiri, Commentary to Bava Metzia 71a

A Jew and a non-Jew who come to borrow money from a Jew, and it is impossible to lend to both of them, it is a mitzvah to lend first to the Jew, without charging interest, and not to the non-Jew, although one could charge him interest. Nevertheless, there is a mitzvah- and ethical-quality to lend to the non-Jew, albeit with interest — since he came before you to borrow, you should not turn him away empty-handed. However, you are not obligated to lend him without interest.

There are those who explain that this is what our rabbis intended when they said: "'To the non-Jew though you may lend with interest' — this is a positive mitzvah"...that there is a mitzvah element in lending to a non-Jew, albeit that one is entitled to do so with charging interest, and that we should not abandon him completely. This is also intended in their statement: "'If you lend money to My people' — My people and a non-Jew, My people take precedence"... from this we see that even a non-Jew is included [in the mitzvah] of the verse, but that to lend to the Jew without interest takes precedence over lending to him even with interest, and that the non-Jew is not entitled to take precedence. Nevertheless, even he is included in the mitzvah and ethical obligation.

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