משנה: פְּרוֹזְבּוֹל אֵינוֹ מְשַׁמֵּט. זֶה אֶחָד מִן הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁהִתְקִין הִלֵּל הַזָּקֵן כְּשֶׁרָאָה שֶׁנִּמְנְעוּ הָעָם מִלְּהַלְווֹת זֶה אֶת זֶה וְעוֹבְרִין עַל מַה שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן יִהְיֶה דָבָר בִּלְבָֽבְךָ בְּלִיַּעַל לֵאמוֹר וגו׳. הִתְקִין הִלֵּל פְּרוֹזְבּוֹל. זֶהוּ גּוּפוֹ שֶׁל פְּרוֹזְבּוֹל מוֹסֵר אֲנִי לָכֶם אִישׁ פְּלוֹנִי וּפְלוֹנִי הַדַּייָנִים שֶׁבִּמְקוֹם פְּלוֹנִי שֶׁכָּל־חוֹב שֶׁיֵּשׁ לִי שֶׁאַגְבֶּנּוּ כָּל־זְמַן שֶׁאֶרְצֶה וְהַדַּייָנִים חוֹתְמִין לְמַטָּן אוֹ הָעֵדִים. MISHNAH: A prozbol80A Greek legal term, προσβολή, “document recording the knocking down of a lot to a purchaser”, cf. Peah Chapter 3, Note 120. By Mishnah 2, instruments of indebtedness delivered to the court for collection are not subject to remission. Hillel substituted for actual delivery a document declaring the intent of the creditor to transfer his documents to the authority of the court without actually delivering them. does not remit. This is one of the ordinances of Hillel the elder. When he saw that the people refrained from giving loans to one another and transgressed what is written in the Torah, as it is said (Deut. 15:9): “Guard yourself, lest there be in your heart an unworthy thought saying,67The entire verse reads: “Guard yourself, lest there be in your heart an unworthy thought saying, behold, the Sabbatical year, the remitting year, is close, and you will be badly disposed towards your needy brother and not give him; when he would appeal against you to the Eternal then sin will be in you.” The verse is taken to deal with a case where the Sabbatical will remit without any possibility for the lender to recoup his loan. The only case found is that of an unsecured loan given less than 30 days before the date of remission when repayment cannot be claimed but the debt will be remitted. etc.”, he instituted the prozbol.
This is the essence89In addition, all legal formalism that makes a document valid must be incorporated into the prozbol. of prozbol: I declare before you, judges X and Y at place Z, that I shall collect any debt due me any time I wish. The judges sign at the bottom or the witnesses.
הלכה: מִיכָּן סָֽמְכוּ לִפְרוֹזְבּוֹל שֶׁהוּא מִן הַתּוֹרָה. וּפְרוֹזְבּוֹל דְּבַר תּוֹרָה. כְּשֶׁהִתְקִין הִלֵּל סָֽמְכוּהוּ לִדְבַר תּוֹרָה. HALAKHAH: From here81The sentence just preceding the Mishnah, giving biblical support to the rule that instruments of indebtedness in the possession of the court are not subject to remission. they supported the notion that prozbol is from the Torah. But is prozbol from the Torah82Since the documents are not delivered, prozbol cannot be biblical.? When Hillel instituted it, they supported it from words of the Torah.
אָמַר רִבִּי חוּנָא קַשִּׁייְתָהּ קוֹמֵי רִבִּי יַעֲקֹב בַּר אָחָא כְּמָאן דְּאָמַר מַעְשְׂרוֹת [מִדִּבְרֵיהֶם נִיחָא שֶׁיְּתַקֵּן הִלֵּל פְּרוֹזְבּוֹל בְּרַם מָאן דְּאָמַר מַעְשְׂרוֹת] מִדְּבַר תּוֹרָה. וְהִלֵּל מַתְקִין עַל דְּבַר תּוֹרָה. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי וְכִי מִשָּׁעָה שֶׁגָּלוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל לְבָבֶל לֹא נִפְטְרוּ מִן הַמִּצְוֹת הַתְּלוּיוֹת בָּאָרֶץ וְהַשְׁמֵט כְּסָפִים נוֹהֵג בֵּין בָּאָרֶץ בֵּין בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ דְּבַר תּוֹרָה [מִשּׁוּם דְּחוֹבַת הַגּוּף הֵן]. חָזַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי וְאָמַר וְזֶה דְּבַר הַשְּׁמִיטָּה שָׁמוֹט בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהַשְּׁמִיטָּה נוֹהֶגֶת דְּבַר תּוֹרָה הַשְׁמֵט כְּסָפִים נוֹהֵג בֵּין בָּאָרֶץ בֵּין בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ דְּבַר תּוֹרָה. וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁהַשְּׁמִיטָּה נוֹהֶגֶת מִדִּבְרֵיהֶן הַשְׁמֵט כְּסָפִים נוֹהֶגֶת בֵּין בָּאָרֶץ בֵּין בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ מִדִּבְרֵיהֶן. תַּמָּן אָֽמְרִין אֲפִילוּ כְּמָאן דְּאָמַר מַעְשְׂרוֹת דְּבַר תּוֹרָה מוֹדֶה בִשְׁמִיטָּה שֶׁהִיא מִדִּבְרֵיהֶן. דְּתַנֵּי וְזֶה דְּבַר הַשְּׁמִיטָּה שָׁמוֹט. רִבִּי אוֹמֵר שְׁנֵי שְׁמִיטִּין הַלָּלוּ שְׁמִיטָּה וְיוֹבֵל. בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהַיּוֹבֵל נוֹהֵג שְׁמִיטָה נוֹהֶגֶת דְּבַר תּוֹרָה. פָּֽסְקוּ הַיּוֹבֵילוֹת שְׁמִיטָּה נוֹהֶגֶּת מִדִּבְרֵיהֶן. אֶימָתַי פָּֽסְקוּ הַיּוֹבֵילוֹת [כָּל] יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ. בִּזְמַן שֶׁיּוֹשְבֶיהָ עָלֶיהָ לֹא בִזְמַן שֶׁגָּלוּ מִתּוֹכָהּ. הָיוּ עָלֶיהָ אֲבָל הָיוּ מְעוּרְבָבִין שֵׁבֶט יְהוּדָה בְבִנְיָמִן וְשֵׁבֶט בִּנְיָמִן בִּיהוּדָה יָכוֹל יְהוּ הַיּוֹבֵילוֹת נוֹהֲגִין. תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ לְכָל־יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ נִמְצֵאתָ אוֹמֵר כִּיוָן שֶׁגָּלוּ שֵׁבֶט רְאוּבֵן וְגָד וַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט הַמְּנַשֶּׁה בָּֽטְלוּ הַיּוֹבֵילוֹת. Rebbi Ḥuna said, I asked before Rebbi Jacob ben Aḥa: Following him who says tithes [are from their words, it is understandable that Hillel instituted prozbol. But following him who says tithes] are from the Torah, does Hillel institute anything against the words of the Torah84The disagreement about tithes is between R. Yose ben R. Ḥanina and R. Eleazar in Halakhah 6:1 (Note 11). “Their words” are the rabbinic institutions.? Rebbi Yose said, from the moment that Israel was exiled to Babylonia, did they not become free from all commandments connected with the Land, but the remission of debts applies both in the Land and outside the Land from the words of the Torah [because it is an obligation of the person85While this may be the correct reason, the language is Babylonian rabbinic Hebrew; the insert probably is a gloss that found its way into the text. In Sifry Deut. 111, the reason given is not this logical argument but the verse (Deut. 15:2): “this is the word of the remission: every creditor remit what is in his hand, what he loaned to his fellow; he shall not press his fellow because a remission was declared for the Eternal.” Since God is Lord over the universe, remission is applicable everywhere in the universe.]? Rebbi Yose turned and said, (Deut. 15:2) “this is the word of the abandonment, remit” as long as abandonment86Agricultural Sabbatical. is followed as a word of the Torah, remission of debts applies both in the Land and outside the Land from the words of the Torah, but when abandonment is followed as their word, remission of debts applies both in the Land and outside the Land from their word. There87Babylonia. The Babli (Giṭṭin36a) quotes only Rebbi’s statement below. The commentators of the Babli assume that the majority of rabbis oppose Rebbi. There seems to be no basis for that assumption. The sketchy treatment of the subject in the Babli is explained by Meïri (Magen Avot, ed. Last, London 1909, Chap. 15.)., they say that even one who holds that tithes are from the Torah will hold that the Sabbatical is from their word. As we have stated (Deut. 15:2): “this is the word of the remission, remit!” Rebbi says, these two remissions are the Sabbatical and the Jubilee. As long as the Jubilee is operative, the Sabbatical is from words of the Torah. If the Jubilees are abolished, the Sabbatical is operative from their words. When were the Jubilees abolished? (Lev. 25:10) “[All its] inhabitants.88From here to the end of the Halakhah, the argument is also in Babli Arakhin 32b and Sifra Behar Pereq2(3). The verse reads: “You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and call freedom for all its inhabitants, a Jubilee it shall be for you so that everybody return to his ancestral land, everybody return to his family.” “Ancestral land” is the plot given to the family in the original distribution after the conquest. It follows that there can be no Jubilee if the distribution of land by Joshua is no longer known.” In the time when its inhabitants lived on it, not when they went into exile. If they lived on it but intermingled, the tribe of Judah in Benjamin, and the tribe of Benjamin in Judah, I could think that the Jubilee is operative. The verse mentions its inhabitants, “All its inhabitants;” you find that when the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh went into exile, the Jubilees were disestablished.
רִבִּי חִזְקִיָּה בְּשֵׁם רִבִּי יִרְמְיָה וַאֲפִילוּ נְתוּנִּין בְּרוֹמֵי. Rebbi Ḥizqiah in the name of Rebbi Jeremiah: Even if they are in Rome90It is possible to write a prozbol on the names of judges at another place (who probably will never know about the existence of this prozbol.) This implies that prozbol and the related documents do not have to be deposited with any court..
רִבִּי בָּא בְשֵׁם רַבָּנִין דְּתַמָּן שְׁלֹשָׁה שֶׁדָּנוּ וּמֵת אֶחָד מֵהֶן חוֹתְמִין בִּשְׁנַיִם וְאָמַר אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁחָתַמְנוּ בִשְׁנָיַם דָּנַנּוּ בִשְׁלֹשָׁה. אָמַר רִבִּי חַגַּיי מַתְנִיתִין אָמַר כֵּן וְהַדַּייָנִין חוֹתְמִין מִלְּמַטָּה אוֹ הָעֵדִים. וּלְמֵידִין מִידַּת הַדִּין מִפְּרוֹזְבּוֹל. אַשְׁכָּח תַּנֵּי הוּא מִידַּת הַדִּין לָמַד מִפְּרוֹזְבּוֹל. Rebbi Abba in the name of the rabbis there91In the Babli (Ketubot 22a), this is also a statement of Rebbi Abba (in Babylonian Aramaic). A court usually is composed of three judges (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:1); in the opinion of the majority of authorities, a court of two judges is incompetent. Now the Mishnah mentions only two judges and equates the signatures of judges and witnesses. Since witnesses must always be two, it follows that there is a situation in which the signature of two judges is valid even for those who disallow a court of two judges.: If three sat in judgment and one of them died, two sign and note: Even though we are two who sign, we were three in judging. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, our Mishnah implies this: “The judges sign at the bottom or the witnesses.” Does one learn court documents from prozbol? It was found stated: This about court documents was learned from the rules of prozbol.
אֵין לוֹ קַרְקַע וּלְחַייָבִין לוֹ קַרְקַע כּוֹתְבִין לוֹ פְּרוֹזְבּוֹל. הֵיךְ עֲבִידָא רְאוּבֵן חַייָב לְשִׁמְעוֹן וְלֵוִי חַייָב לִרְאוּבֵן. רְאוּבֵן אֵין לוֹ קַרְקַע וְלֵוִי יֵשׁ לוֹ קַרְקַע כּוֹתְבִין לְשִׁמְעוֹן עַל נְכָסָיו שֶׁל לֵוִי. If he has no real estate but his debtors have real estate, one writes a prozbol for him92It is stated in Mishnaiot 6 and Peah 3:8 that prozbol can be written only on the basis of real estate; the possession of one square inch is enough. In Tosephta Ševi‘it 8:9 it is made clear that the debtor must have real estate (to give the prozbol a status similar to a mortgage which is not remitted.) In Tosephta 8:8, the anonymous majority holds that in a chain of debtors, only the creditor of a debtor with real estate may write a prozbol but Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel asserts that the real estate of one of the debtors is good for all. The Yerushalmi here and a similar Babli (Giṭṭin 37a) follow Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel without mentioning his name.. How is that done? Ruben owes Simeon and Levi owes Ruben. Ruben has no real estate, Levi has real estate. One writes for Simeon on the properties of Levi.