Updated August 2022
Jewish law obligates every Jewish person to cancel, after the culmination of the Shemita year, various types of debt due to him or her. This does not apply to a debt owed to beis din.
If a creditor executes a Pruzbul, he or she is not obligated to cancel debts. A Pruzbul may be executed at any time before the end of the Shemita year. However, since a Pruzbul covers only debts already existing at the time of its execution, it is usually implemented at the very end of the Shemita year, shortly before Rosh Hashana of the post-Shemita year.
When a creditor arranges for the execution of the Pruzbul form below before three men acting as a Beis Din, debts owed to him or her are transferred by the creditor to the Beis Din, so that the debts will continue to be in force after the end of the Shemita year, and the Beis Din then authorizes the creditor to collect on their behalf.
A Pruzbul is only effective if the debtor owns real property. The property does not need to be worth the amount of the debt. If the debtor does not own property, the creditor must first give the debtor some land before the Pruzbul is executed.
The form below was prepared by Harav Moshe Heinemann shlit”a. A PDF of the form can be found here.
The reader is encouraged to consult his or her rav for further explanation and guidance.
______________________________________________________________________
פלוני בן פלוני למשפחת פלוני for a man, or פלונית בת פלוני למשפחת פלוני for a woman.
If the Pruzbul is written in 2022, the year should be filled in as תשפ”ב. If the Pruzbul is written in Baltimore, the city name should be filled in as מתא באלטימאר. If the Pruzbul is written on Erev Rosh Hashana 2022, it should be dated ביום ראשון בשבת תשע ועשרים יום.
______________________________________________________________________
“This year is the Shemita year, and I have documented and non-documented debts that I am owed, and I submit to you, the Beis Din, every debt due to me, so that I shall be allowed to collect them whenever I wish, as ordained by Hillel”.
______________________________________________________________________
פרוזבול
ביום _________ בשבת, ______________________ יום לחודש אלול, שנת חמשת אלפים _________________ לבריאת העולם למנין שאנו מונין כאן מתא ________________________,
במותב תלתא בי דינא כחדא הוינא ואתא לקדמנא _______________________________________ למשפחת ____________________________ המלוה ואמר לפנינו הן שנה זו היא שנת השמיטה ויש לי חובות בשטר ובעל פה על אחרים והריני מוסר לכם בית דין שכל חוב שיש לי שאגבנו כל זמן שארצה כתקנת חז”ל שתיקן הלל פרוזבול.
נאום ______________________ דיין
נאום ______________________ דיין
נאום ______________________ דיין
Pruzbul
On __________ , the _______________________ day of ___________________, [fill in the year]
In the city of ___________________________,
We three individuals signed below have come together to form a Beis Din, and the lender __________________________________ has come and told us that, due to the fact that this year is the Shemita year, and that he has documented and/or undocumented loans that are due to be repaid to him by others, he is transferring all of his loans to the Beis Din such that he will be able to collect all of these loans at any time that he wishes, as per the regulations establish by our Sages, in accordance with Hillel’s institution of the Pruzbul document.
Judge ____________________________________________
Judge ____________________________________________
Judge ____________________________________________
STAR-D
STAR-S