This book deals with the unique issue of credit in Jewish society in the times of the Mishnah and Talmud. Credit has been the oxygen of the economy throughout history. This volume is the fruit of thorough socio-economic and cultural research of the issue as can be derived from the legal legislation of the intellectual elite of the society at that time. There has not yet been research devoted to this topic analyzing the vast material available in rabbinic literature. The research expands the scope, including comparison to the surrounding society in Roman Palestine and Sassanid Babylon. It includes information gleaned from epigraphic findings and uses socio-anthropological measures to help understand how credit was approached in rabbinic literature. The chapters of the volume represent a division of forms of credit found in the rabbinic sources, between credit that involved loan of money or products and payment of money or products. The main issue that sets apart the rabbinic attitude to interest is the Torah prohibition of charging interest for loans and how the rabbis interpreted and expanded it. The research distinguishes ‘credit’ from ‘debt’ and shows how the two areas are in some ways the same and in others different. This comprehensive analysis of the world of credit in Jewish society can open new directions and avenues for understanding the economy and society of the Roman world.
I wish to thank individuals who contributed significantly to this volume. Dr. Haim Perlmutter was my learning partner for this book. We examined every chapter and source together, and the result you see here has emerged through mutual brainstorming. He is also responsible for translating the original Hebrew manuscript into English. Dr. Joseph Menirav started this research with me and contributed much to its content and division of chapters. Miss Leah Namdar, a senior librarian in the central library at Bar Ilan University, supplied invaluable sources and studies that enhanced the research. Michael Helfield was the language editor and contributed much to its clarity. I wish to thank also all the workers at the Bar Ilan University central library that helped me whenever needed. I thank the anonymous reviewers who commented on the manuscript, the chief editor of this series, and the editorial staff at Brill Publications. Last but not least, my wife, Rivka Rosenfeld, assisted much in writing and editing this volume.