Qitzur Shulchan Arukh – 180:10-11

י: הַמּוֹכֵר אֵיזֶה דָבָר לַחֲבֵרוֹ בְּהַקָּפָה, הֲוֵי לֵהּ כְאִלּוּ הִלְוָהוּ מָעוֹת, וּמְשַׁמֵּט. אֲבָל חֶנְוָנִי הַמּוֹכֵר לַאֲחֵרִים בְּהַקָּפָה, וְאֵין דַּרְכּוֹ לִתְבֹּעַ עַד שֶׁמִּתְקַבֵּץ אֵיזֶה סַךְ, אֵינוֹ מְשַׁמֵּט. וְאִם זְקָפָן עָלָיו בְּמִלְוָה, דְּהַיְנוּ שֶׁחָשַב הַכֹּל בְּיַחַד וְכָתַב בְּפִנְקָסוֹ סַךְ הַכּוֹלֵל, אֲזַי הֲוֵי כְּהַלְוָאָה וּמְשַׁמֵּט

Someone who sells some thing to his friend on credit, it is as though he lent the money, and [the implied loan] retires. However, a shopkeeper who sells to others on credit, and it isn’t his way to collect until it accumulates to some amount, [the tab] does not retire. However, if he stands over it like it’s a loan, which means he calculates the whole thing and writes in his notebook the running total, then it is like a loan and does get retired.

יא: שְׂכַר שָׂכִיר, אֵינוֹ מְשַׁמֵּט. וְאִם זְקָפוֹ עָלָיו בְּמִלְוָה, מְשַׁמֵּט

A workman’s pay is not retired. However, if he stands over him like it’s a loan, it does retire.


One concept of shemitas kesafim, the retirement of loans on the shemittah year, is to put a cap on how long someone can be hounded by his creditor. Therefore, the the lender doesn’t have the right to collect the loan yet, shemittah doesn’t terminate the lown. Similarly, a seller who uses credit but only mentions the tab when it gets to a certain size isn’t subject to shemittah, since a sale on credit isn’t fully a loan, and the ills shemittah is there to eliminate aren’t involved. Similarly most employees who wait for payday. However, if storeowner or worker makes a big deal about the credit each time an amount is added to it, then it is sufficiently like a loan in the very way that matters to qualify.

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