2

As it was/is forbidden for the Israelites to charge usury/interest to a fellow Israelite, I began researching the banking practices of the Israelites in the Torah. That being said/written, interest is intricately intertwined with a bank becoming financially successful. Further researching to see how this is reconciled I came across a question on this website asking about interest loans, "Heter Iska", an article about a "Kosher Bank" (1990), and another article which highlighted how Jews do business without loans once again highlighting the Heter Iska. From my research, I can only find traces of all of this being done on a small scale or having a clientele that included non-Jews. My question is how exactly do Jewish-run banks make profits if their clientele is all Jewish? As always articles, commentaries, references, and personal insight are always welcomed. Todah Rabbah.

Improve this question
8
  • התיר עיסק׳ כללי כידוע
    – TwoOs
    May 30 at 6:51
  • 1
    They write a heter iska for each case. Generally, it's an investment and therefore could lose money, however "if you're not prepared to bring us two witnesses to show exactly what lost money and how, down to to the last penny, you can just pay us 5% instead."
    – Shalom
    May 30 at 17:52
  • 1
    Israeli banks all have a heter iska - for details how this works see rabbikaganoff.com/how-does-a-heter-iska-work
    – mbloch
    May 31 at 3:32
  • You could charge a flat fee for your services?
    – The GRAPKE
    Jun 1 at 5:49
  • @TheGRAPKE Is that what they do?
    – יהודה
    Jun 1 at 6:19

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .