Jewish Law – by Rabbi Joseph Stern
 Do not cause your fellow Jew to charge interest (i.e. do not pay interest in return for a loan – a prohibition against the debtor paying interest).      |
The above verses and rabbinic dicta express the issur of Ribis the giving or receiving of any sort of profit for the loan of money or food.
Few committed Jews would deliberately lend (or borrow) money in violation of the injunction against charging interest. And yet some very commonplace business transactions pose serious halahic problems. This article will suggest some contemporary applications of the Ribis principle and discuss proposed remedies for each situation. A second section will focus on the status of banks, corporations, and other organizations that may be exempt from the Ribis prohibition. A third and closing section will discuss the evolution of the Heter Iska (a document structuring a loan as an investment proposal) and its feasibility for modern business exigencies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the parameters of the Ribis laws, rather than to offer authoritative psak. Any halachic verdict must be rendered by competent rabbinic authorities.
Not loaning money at interest is for governments to abide by. Governments were suppose to “coin” their currency, distribute it to the citizens who worked and then bought food, shelter and clothing to make the economy run properly. The government received the money back through taxation. And a small taxation at that…maybe 2%. That’s how the money was suppose to circulate through a society. Then god got diarehea and created the jews and the whole system broke down.
“Usury – charging interest – is equivalent to atheism.”
Close, but actually their god is mammon.
As well as Satan.