“Are the trustees of public charity funds and the officers of banking institutions required, according to halacha, to execute a prosbul in order to enable them to collect moneys due them after the completion of shemittah?”
In his response, Rabbi Yosef refers to the role of rabbinical courts regarding orphans: “Our Sages state (Gittin 37a) that orphans do not need a prosbul since bet din is considered the ‘father’ of orphans. Thus, any money due to orphans – whether debts owed to their father that they have inherited or loans they themselves issued after their father’s demise – is collectible without a prosbul.”
As a general rule, the bet bin of every generation is considered the avi yetomim – lit., the “father of orphans.” We thus view all writs of debt due to orphans as automatically being in the hands of bet din. And, as stated in Sifrei (Deuteronomy 113) and Tractate Makkot (3b), all writs of debt that are handed over to bet din remain collectible after shemittah.
The Rashba (Bava Kamma 36b) states: “We derive from this rule that one who is indebted to a charity fund is obligated to repay his debt even after the completion of shemittah, which does not cancel such debts. The reason is that bet din is considered the depository for all debts to charity funds. Therefore, is as if the writs of debt are already in the court’s hands.”
Rabbi Yosef writes that one of the reasons bet din is charged with the collection of these debts is because the world exists due to gemilut chesed, as Psalms 89:3 states, “Ki amarti, Olam chesed yibbaneh – For I have said, the world is built upon kindness.” Rabbi Yosef stresses that the world cannot exist without the loans of gemachs and banking institutions.
He cites numerous halachic authorities who rule that such gemilut chesed organizations do not need a prosbul in order to collect the debts owed to them – debts which, if left unpaid, would affect every depositor.
Rabbi Yosef also notes that according to halacha, bank officials are required to effectuate a prosbul document for all loans due to their institution. (Trustees of free loan funds should also utilize a prosbul. Though they are not required to do so, it is proper that they merge their funds’ debts with their own personal debts and draw up a prosbul for all of them together.)
(To be continued)