(Prozbol). A Greek word meaning either "for the court" or "official notice," used to denote the legal document preventing the cancelation of debts during the Sabbatical Year. According to biblical law, all outstanding debts were to be canceled during each Sabbatical year. Consequently, lenders became wary of lending money as the Sabbatical year approached, even though the Pentateuch specifically warned against such actions: "Beware, lest you harbor the base thought, 'The seventh year, the year of remission, is approaching,' so that you are mean to your needy kinsman and give him nothing" (Deut. 15:9). As borrowers found it almost impossible to borrow money under these circumstances, Hillel, relying on a legal loophole, bypassed the law. As the rule of canceling debts in the Sabbatical year applies only to debts owed to individuals, Hillel arranged for the use of the prosbul, a legal device whereby lenders are able to turn over all their outstanding debts to a law court (Bet Din) before the onset of the Sabbatical year. In this way, as the debt is due for collection by the bet din rather than by an individual, it is not canceled by the Sabbatical year. While there was opposition to the introduction of this system, it was eventually accepted as valid because of Hillel's authority. The amora Samuel declared that had he the power, he would have annulled Hillel's innovation.
Conservative and Reform rabbis often point to the prosbul as an example of the rabbis' ability to nullify even an explicit Torah commandment, and they have deduced from this the right of the modern rabbinate to do the same. The Orthodox view, though, is that the device used by Hillel was built into the very fabric of the law and that what Hillel did was to institutionalize a method which had always been available on a particular basis.
The text of the prosbul states: "I hereby make known to you (the names of the three rabbis involved), in such-and-such a place, concerning any debt owing to me by so-and-so, that I may be able to collect it when I wish." The three judges then sign the form.
