Anti-Semitism

[onionsoupmix]

So, did you know that it is a positive mitzvah to charge interest to a gentile?

The 198th mitzvah is that we are commanded to charge interest to a non-Jew and only then lend him money, in order that we not assist him nor give him rest. Rather we should cause him [financial] loss, even with the kind of interest that we are forbidden from taking from

Comments

[anonymous]

It does bother me that the "you must charge them and have them incur a loss" is presented in the main section as the law, while the dissenting and mitigating views are shoved down in footnotes. I don't know if that comes from Chabad editing or the original Rambam material

[onionsoupmix]

If there are certain economic policies that are seen as "best practices" for the overall health of the economy, that's one thing. But why does that have to be made into a mitzvah?

And really, that is not how this rambam reads.

Also, what about all those economic policies when the Jews lived in Israel, in places where their contact with gentiles was minimal? If this didn't work out and loopholes had to be devised, why didn't God think about this in the first place?

Why isn't there a general commandment of not charging usurious rates to anyone and that's all?

[anonymous]

Thanks for the link to the Jewish Virtual Library article, which seems to be more comprehensive and logical than the other links

מפרנסין ומכסין עניי עכו"ם עם עניי ישראל מפני דרכי שלום,

[stjust]

this is part of the jewish modus vivendi with our non jewish neighbours, but chabad will have none of it. because they are deceiptfull reshoeem!

too ignorant to answer...

[glowing_flower]

This discussion is above my level of learning, but I will tell you that the free-loan society in the city where I live gives to non-Jews as well. This is not a fact they publicized. I stumbled upon it in a round-about manner.

????

[anonymous]

ה. מאימתי חזרת מלוים ברבית משיקרעו שטרותיהן מעצמן ויחזרו בהן חזרה גמורה שלא ילוו ברבית אפילו לעכו"ם:

How can we restrict him, even if he is like an addict? Is it or isn't it a mitzvah d'oraisa?