Misva #583: Not to Take as Collateral Items Needed for Food Preparation

The Torah commands in Parashat Ki-Teseh (Debarim 24:6), “Lo Yahabol Rehayim Va’recheb” – forbidding a lender from seizing as collateral the borrower’s millstones, with which he grinds wheat for the preparation of bread. Although the Torah certainly entitles creditors to take collateral, a creditor may not take something which the borrower needs for preparing food. The Torah gives the specific example of “Rehayim Va’racheb” – the two stones of the mill – but this applies also to utensils needed to knead or cook, and to knives for slaughtering animals. A lender who takes such items as collateral is guilty of a separate violation for each one which he seizes. For example, if the lender took the borrower’s Shehita (slaughtering) knife, millstone, and pot, then he has committed three separate transgressions. The two millstones are considered separate utensils in this respect, and thus the creditor would be guilty of two violations for seizing the millstones, even though the borrower cannot use one without the other. If the lender did unlawfully take such an item as collateral, Bet Din has the authority to forcefully remove it from his possession and return it to the borrower. This prohibition applies only when the payment is due, and the borrower is unable to pay. In such a situation, the lender is not permitted to seize against the borrower’s will property which the borrower needs for food preparation. However, at the time the loan is given, the lender is allowed to take such utensils as collateral if the borrower agrees. Just as one is certainly allowed to purchase any item which the owner agrees to sell, one is allowed to demand any collateral that the borrower is willing to give in exchange for the loan. If the lender violated this prohibition, and the utensils he seized were burned or lost, then he is liable to Malkut, because he is no longer able to return the collateral in lieu of Malkut. He is liable to a separate set of Malkut for each utensil which he unlawfully seized. This command applies in all times and places, and is binding upon both men and women.