| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Torah: | Deuteronomy 15 |
| Mishnah: | Gittin 4:3, Shevi'it 10:3 |
| Babylonian Talmud: | Gittin 34b–37b |
| Jerusalem Talmud: | Shevi'it ch. 10 |
The Prozbul (Hebrew: פרוזבול, borrowed from Koinē Greek: προσβολή)[1] was established in the waning years of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by Hillel the Elder. The writ, issued historically by rabbis, changed the status of individual private loans into the public administration, which made them ineligible for cancellation on the year of Shmita. This allowed the poor to receive interest-free loans before the Sabbatical year while protecting the investments of the lenders.