181: Laws of Shemittah of Money

The majority of decors agree that the shemittah of money [the terminination of loans by the shemittah year, which is once every 7th year] is in practice even in these times, and even outside of the land [of Israel]. But the world got used to being lenient. The greats of Israel, whose memory is a blessing, already made much noise against this. Some of them tried to find a merit on the practice, that they are relying on the minority who are lenient. However, someone who wants to be careful with mitzvos is certainly obligated to act like the majority of decisors, whose memory is a blessing. In particular, it is possible to fix this with a pruzbul [a contract whose terms will be discussed later, whose terms place the loan outside of the law of shemittah] and he won’t [even] come to a loss.

The shemittah year was 5635, and the next one will be 5642. [For us, the previous was 5768, and the next one will be  5775.]

Currently, shemittah is once every seven years. Once the majority of the Jewish people settle Israel, perhaps only if we return to our tribal boarders, then yovel, the jubilee year comes into play, and shemittah shifts back from rabbinic to Torahitic law. At that time, the dispute as to whether the 50th, yoveil, year counts toward the shemittah cycle or not could perhaps change the date for the next shemittah from 5775.