Q&A: The Presumption That a Person Does Not Repay Before the Due Date
The Presumption That a Person Does Not Repay Before the Due Date
Question
The Rabbi argued in a lesson on study and halakhic ruling that the presumption that a person does not repay before the due date is not relevant nowadays, when people take interest.
In other words, one would need to examine the majority pattern in order to determine whether that assessment is correct.
I claim that a presumption is not built on a statistical majority. This can be proven from Rabbi Meir, who does not hold by a statistical majority, a majority that is not before us, yet he certainly agrees that there is such a thing as a presumption.
A presumption is not a general assessment. Rather, it is an assumption that we operate by. The very fact that there is a due date is itself an assumption that one should not assume a person will repay before that date, because if so they would have moved the due date earlier for him. We assume that a person will repay on time, and on the basis of that assumption we set him a due date. Therefore, this presumption is valid forever.
In my opinion, I would add that according to this interpretation, this presumption falls into the category of form and not merely a social norm. Why? Because the Torah looks for the one original source that serves as the basis for social behavior. And the conception of unity as the basis of multiplicity is the essence of the Torah!
Answer
I never claimed that. I gave as an example a situation in which this presumption would not be relevant—for example, if we think about mortgages nowadays and the like. That is not a factual claim.
As for your general claim about presumptions, it is incorrect. There are presumptions that are presumptions of conduct—for example, the presumption of kosher status—and there are presumptions that are assessments of reality.
Discussion on Answer
And I claim that grandma has wheels. There are things that do not require proof.
When the Rabbi speaks about an assessment of the situation, that means he examines it and from that examination arrives at a statistical conclusion.
That is not the meaning of a presumption. You do not examine anything in order to arrive at a presumption.
A presumption is a foundational assumption by which we operate in any case. An axiom. Why? Just because. Because everything needs an axiom, including behavioral norms.
The Torah has to analyze the situation and identify the axioms by which we operate. And then call them presumptions.
A presumption, then, is an initial default state. It does not arise from any investigation. It exists because some assumption is necessary. And this assumption is rooted in our most basic behavior. Not because we have proof of it, and not because it is likely to be so, but because any other assumption would arise only through the negation of this presumption.
Everything has a cause. Therefore, the first thing one sees is attributed to its cause. A child who grows up with his parents—if nothing is said to him, he has a cause, and he assumes that his cause, his father and mother, are the people raising him. Why? Because they are primary in his perception.
So too with a person who has a loan and already has a set time by which he must repay. The primary picture of repayment is when the time arrives. Why? Because before that he is not obligated to repay, and therefore the primary image of repaying the debt is formed דווקא when the time arrives. Therefore this is a presumption. It has nothing to do with assessing the situation!!
I am saying that even if there is a mortgage and interest, the rule is still that a person does not repay before the due date. Because this is not an assessment but a mode of conduct by which we operate. And the proof that this is the mode of conduct is that even with a mortgage, a time is set for repayment of the debt. And the assumption that he would repay before the due date arrives is incorrect by virtue of the very setting of the repayment date.
And I would be happy to receive proof that there are presumptions that are assessments of reality, and that such presumptions would not be valid according to Rabbi Meir.