For Matanos L’evyonim donations Click Here

Paying Shekel Loan in Dollars

My late mother-in-law owned an apartment here, which we (the children) sold, and divided between us. My brother in chu’l has no use for the shekalim, but wants us to hold the money for him until he needs it (so it does not disappear). Eventually, he will probably want it in dollars, and we will probably make a dollar transfer into his US account from our US account. In the interim, we are spending his shekalim for our living expenses, which in essence means that we are borrowing money from him, which we will pay back later, probably in dollars, but possibly in shekel. How do we evaluate how much we owe him without creating a ribbis problem? Do we need a heter iska?

Thanks very much.

Answer:

You don’t need a heter iska. You simply need to pay back the amount that you borrow.

Right now you are borrowing money in shekels, and you will therefore pay them back on a shekel base. Keep a tab on the amount you are borrowing, and finally, when the time comes to pay it back, pay back the money in shekels or in dollars according to the dollar rate at the time of repayment.

Best wishes.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *