Kashrus Kurrents Spring 2014
Q: I would like to send my young children to a backyard camp during the summer. The camp is offering an ‘early-bird special’ if I register my children now. If I wait until the summer to register, they will charge more. Is there any ribbis issue with registering now and receiving the discount?
A: Ribbis involves lending money to another Jew and charging interest. Doing so may violate a Torah prohibition or a rabbinic prohibition, depending upon the situation. If it is necessary to charge interest, the two parties may sign a document known as a “heter iska”, which converts the loan into a business investment, thereby avoiding the prohibition of ribbis.1 People are often unaware that a number of common transactions may violate the prohibition of ribbis. Here are a couple of examples:
(1) Reuven buys an item with Shimon’s credit card, and assures Shimon that he will pay the credit card bill. However, Reuven forgets to pay the bill on time, and […]