Parshas Behar contains the prohibition of charging another Jew interest. The Medrash records a scary result of engaging in this prohibition: “See how great the punishment is for one who lends with interest: He will not rise up at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead.”
Ribis is a lav—a negative commandment—one of 365 such “Thou Shall Not” commandments in the Torah. This is not a lav that is punished by Kares (spiritual excision); it is not a lav that is punished by misah b’dei Shamayim (Death at the Hands of Heaven); it is not a capital offense at all. It is simply a “regular negative commandment.” I am not belittling that, but it is just a lav. Nowhere are we told that for wearing clothes made out of wool and linen (shatnez) that we will not get up at the time of Techiyas HaMeisim. Nowhere are we told that for eating pork (chazir) we will not get up at the time of Techiyas HaMeisim. Why is Ribis so severe that the Medrash warns that for violating this prohibition, a person forfeits his chance for resurrection?
Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld once gave an explanation for this: We know that there is a mitzvah called Shiluach HaKen (the prohibition of taking a mother bird together with her chicks from their nest). A person must first send away the mother bird and only then take the eggs. The rationale behind this mitzvah, according to many commentaries, is the following: Normally, a person can never catch a bird. (When I was a little boy, they told me that if you put salt on the tail of a bird, you can catch it. I tried this experiment. In theory it might work, but it is impossible to put salt on the tail of the bird! The bird flies away!)
So, what kind of prohibition is this to not take a mother bird? Mother birds are not catchable! The answer is that in this case, it is possible to catch the mother, because the mother bird does not want to abandon her nest. She is vulnerable when sitting on top of her chicks. The Torah teaches: Do not take advantage of someone’s vulnerability, because if not for her mercy on her chicks she would fly the coop—literally and figuratively.
Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld explained that it is the same when a person comes to ask to borrow money. Generally speaking, the person needs the money badly. He will do anything to get it. “I need the money. If not, my business will collapse, the bank will take away my house, my property will be foreclosed. I need the money!” The natural response of a man with capital to such a plea might be, “Okay, I’ll lend you the money, but I want 13%” “Thirteen percent?!?” “Listen, do you want the money or don’t you?”
The Torah does not want us to take advantage of vulnerable people. When a person is down and out, the Torah frowns upon taking advantage of his desperation. The prohibition of Ribis is an expression of the Torah’s strong displeasure with such behavior. Therefore, the Torah is far stricter by the prohibition of charging interest that it is by other issurim.
