Borrowed at interest
A person who borrows money at interest, according to legal law, must repay the interest, but according to Torah law, he is prohibited from doing so. This means (is it true?) that the interest belongs to the lender, but the Torah prohibits the borrower from repaying it. Now the lender comes and steals the money, has he violated the law of not stealing (the religious prohibition of not stealing, of course)?
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It seems difficult. The early writers already wrote that if the borrower returned the interest money to the lender, they indeed violated the prohibition of interest, but the lender was entitled to the interest money, because the money always belonged to the borrower from a legal perspective. (See Sha'arei Yosher 5:3).
Therefore, it seems to be said that even if the lender himself stood up and took the interest money from the borrower's hands, he still did not violate the law of not stealing. No?
The borrower who holds the money can consecrate a woman with it and do anything. Therefore, the money is his. And he does not owe the lender anything. In any case, the one who takes it is a usurer.
It is true that if he pays the interest to the lender, the lender will buy it because he gives it to him willingly.
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