Rashi on TanakhDeuteronomy 15

At the end of seven years. Perhaps seven years for each and every loan? The Torah therefore teaches, “The seventh year is approaching.” If you say that there are seven years for each and every loan? for everyone’s loan, how is it that it is approaching? This teaches that the seven years follow the count of the shemitah cycle.

Suspend every creditor’s hand. Suspend the hand of every creditor.

You should demand payment from the stranger. This is a positive commandment.

End it [poverty], so that there will be no one destitute among you. Yet elsewhere it is said, “For the destitute will never cease.” But, whenever you fulfill the will of God, there will be destitute among others, but not among you; whenever you fail to fulfill the will of God, there will be destitute among you.

Destitute. [This refers to someone] poorer than עָנִי, “indigent.” The word אֶבְיוֹן denotes someone desirous of everything.

Only if you listen. Then, there will be no one destitute among you.

You listen [lit., “listen you listen”]. Listen a little, and you will be given the opportunity to listen much.

Just as He told you. Where did He tell you? “You are blessed in the city.”

You will grant loans. Whenever a word denoting lending is used in reference to the lender, the usage is causative, “you will grant loans.” But if it had said וְעָבַעְתָּ, then it would refer to the borrower, as in “you will borrow.”

You will grant loans to nations. Perhaps you will borrow from one and lend to another? The Torah therefore teaches, “but you will not borrow.”

You will rule over many nations. Perhaps other nations will rule over you? The Torah therefore teaches, “but they will not rule over you.”

If there should be someone destitute in your midst. The neediest should be given preference.

Among one of your brothers. Your paternal brother should be given preference over your maternal brother.

Your cities. The indgent of your city should be given preference over the indigent of a different city.

Do not harden. Some people agonize over whether to give or not; the Torah therefore says, “Do not harden.” Some people open the hand, then close it; the Torah therefore says, “Do not close.”

Against your destitute brother. If you do not give him, you will eventually become a brother of the destitute.

You must surely open. [lit. “Open, you must open] Even repeatedly.

Rather, you must surely open. כִּי here is understood as “rather.”

You must surely extend a loan to him. If he refuses charity, extend a loan to him.

To cover the wants. However, you are not required to make him wealthy.

Which he lacks. Even a horse to ride, or a servant to announce his arrival.

He [lit. “him.”] This refers to a wife. Similarly, it is said, “I shall make ‘him’ a helpmate alongside him.”

And if he cries out, concerning you. Perhaps this is a mitzvah? The Torah therefore teaches “So that he does not cry out.”

You will be regarded as sinful. In any case, even if he does not cry out. Then why does it say, “And if he cries out concerning you”? I punish more swiftly with an outcry than without an outcry.

You must surely give him. Even a hundred times.

Him. Between you and him [in total privacy].

For, as a consequence of this thing [lit. this word]. Even if you merely said that you would give. You will be rewarded for saying as well as for giving,

Therefore. For this reason.

Saying. I am counselling you for your own good.

To your brother, to your indigent. To which brother? To the indigent.

To your indigent. With one yud meaning a single indigent. However, “your indigent” with two yuds refers to two of the indigents.

If . . . is sold to you. Through others. When the courts sold him for his larceny, is Scripture’s subject here. But it is already said, “If you purchase a Hebrew slave,” and Scripture there refers to a sale by the courts. Rather, because of two novel teachings here. One, it is written “Or a Hebrew woman” — she must also be liberated after six years. But not a woman sold by the courts, since women are not sold for larceny, as it is said, “For ‘his’ larceny” — not for her larceny. Rather, a minor sold by her father. This teaches that if six years elapsed before she reached puberty, she must be liberated. Another novel teaching here is “you must surely present him with a severance bonus.”

You must surely present him with a severance bonus. The literal meaning of this is “adornment,” to be held high and viewed. An object which indicates that you treated him benevolently. Some explain that the word refers to a necklace worn around the throat.

From your flocks, your threshing area, and your wine cellar. Perhaps only from these alone? The Torah therefore teaches, “with which . . . blessed you.” From everything with which your Creator blessed you. Why are [only] these mentioned? Just as these are distinguished by their blessed status, so do we include everything categorized as blessed. This excludes mules. Also, the Rabbis derive in tractate Kidushin, through the gezerah shava-word comparison principle, the amount which must be given to him from each species.

Remember that you were a slave. And I bestowed a parting gift and repeated it with the spoils of Egypt and [then] the spoils of the sea. You, as well, should bestow a severance gift and then repeat it.

Perpetual slave. Perhaps this follows the plain meaning? The Torah therefore teaches, “Return, everyone, to his ancestral property, everyone shall return to his family.” This teaches that the reference here is merely in the perpetuity of Yovel.

Do the same to your maid-servant as well. Bestow the severance bonus upon her. Perhaps even with the piercing [of the ear] Scripture equates her? The Torah therefore teaches. “If the slave should say.” The slave undergoes the piercing, but not the maid-servant.

For, double the profit produced by the wage earner. From here it is derived that a Hebrew slave works day and night, thus producing double the work of the wage earner hired on a daily basis. What work does he do at night? His master gives him a Gentile maid-servant, and the offspring are the property of the owner.

Every firstborn . . . you must consecrate. Elsewhere it is said that one should not consecrate him. How is this resolved? He may not consecrate him as a different sacrifice. Here, however, it teaches that it is a mitzvah to declare ‘You are hereby consecrated as a firstborn.’ Another interpretation. One cannot say “You must consecrate”! since it has already been said. “Do not consecrate”! And one cannot say “Do not consecrate”! since it has already been said, “You must consecrate”! How is this resolved? You may consecrate it whereby its monetary value becomes sacred, then donate, to the sacred hekdesh domain, the value of its beneficiary payment.

You may not work with your first-born ox, or shear, etc. The converse, as well, is prohibited by Rabbinic derivation, but Scripture depicts what is commonly practiced.

Before Adonoy your God, you must eat it. This is addressed to the kohein, as we already find that this is one of the priestly gifts, whether sound or blemished, as it is said, “Their flesh shall be yours, etc.”

Each year. This teaches that it should not be detained for more than a year. Perhaps it becomes disqualified once the year had passed? It has already been compared to the tithe, as it is said, “You must eat, before Adonoy your God, etc., the tithe of your grain, wine, and oil, and the first-born of your cattle and flocks.” Just as the second tithe is not disqualified from one year to the next, so is the first-born not disqualified. Rather, it is a mitzvah within the year.

Each year [lit. year by year]. If it was slaughtered at the end of the year, it may be eaten that day, and another day into the following year. This teaches that it may be eaten for two days and a night.

A blemish. This is a general statement.

If it is crippled or blind. This is specific.

Any severe blemish. This returns to the general. Just as the specific statement refers explicitly to a visible permanent blemish, so must every disqualifying blemish be visible and permanent.

Only, do not eat its blood. In order that you do not say that, as the entire animal is permitted by exemption from a generally prohibited category — since it is sacred, yet may be slaughtered outside the sanctuary without redemption and eaten — then perhaps even its blood is permitted. The Torah therefore teaches “Only do not eat its blood.”