{
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Teshuvot HaRashbash",
    "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org",
    "versionTitle": "Sefaria Responsa Anthology",
    "status": "locked",
    "license": "CC-BY",
    "versionTitleInHebrew": "לקט השו״ת של ספריא",
    "actualLanguage": "en",
    "languageFamilyName": "english",
    "isBaseText": false,
    "isSource": false,
    "direction": "ltr",
    "heTitle": "תשובות הרשב\"ש",
    "categories": [
        "Responsa",
        "Rishonim"
    ],
    "text": [
        [],
        [],
        [],
        [],
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        [],
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        [],
        [],
        [],
        [],
        [],
        [],
        [],
        [
            "You have further asked:",
            "Reuven bought merchandise from Shimon at the price of one dinar per pound and transported it to his city. After some time, when he came to pay back and had nothing to pay with, he gave him the merchandise itself, at the price of half a dinar per pound. Shimon now claims the rest of his money, whereas Reuven responds: “I owe you nothing. The merchandise that I took from you at the higher price, you took from me on the cheap. This is interest.” Shimon claims: “The merchandise you bought from me was in line with the prevailing rate. If it later depreciated, then the depreciation is your responsibility. Moreover, you already sold my merchandise. This is different merchandise.”",
            "Response:",
            "If that had not been the going rate at the time of the sale, and he had overcharged him, since he has not yet paid him, he may give him [the merchandise itself]. Regarding the overcharge, whether the going rate increased or decreased afterward, since at the time of the sale the going rate was known, and he charged above the retail rate (lit. “the price accepted in the merchants’ homes), this constitutes a smattering of interest (avak ribit), since he has not been paid back yet and therefore can gouge the borrower by means of the increased price. ",
            "However, if he sold to him for the accepted retail price, even if someone sells it for cheaper in the open market, it means nothing, for there is a gap between the “sell to me” price and the “buy from me” price. Certainly, if he bought it from him when the price was high and it later fell, and he bought back even the exact same merchandise, it is permitted [to demand the difference], since [the initial sale was effected fully, as] there was meshikha.  So it is stated in the chapter “Eizehu Neshekh” (Bava Metzi’a 63a): “In a case where meshikha was effected [by the buyer/borrower],” that is, the Sages did not forbid such a thing except when it is part of a scheme. As stated in the same chapter (62b): There are certain things that are permitted, but were forbidden because of schemes to charge interest. For example: If one said to another, ‘Loan me a dinar.’ The other said, ‘I have no cash, but I have fruit,’ and so he gave him a dinar worth of fruit but then bought it back for less than a dinar [thus profiting from the lower price]. This is forbidden, as it is a scheme to charge interest. It is self-evident that this was only prohibited when it is done as a scheme. However, in the present case, when one bought merchandise at the regular rate and it then depreciated, and the merchandise was then collected from him to pay off his debt, at a rate lower than what he paid, there is no interest, nor a scheme that resembles interest.  "
        ]
    ],
    "sectionNames": [
        "Teshuva",
        "Paragraph"
    ]
}