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Bankruptcy Essay

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Bankruptcy, today, is a very common thing among companies and individuals alike. Sadly enough there were as many bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts, as there were all other cases. The American bankruptcy law allows people to avoid paying their debts, by offering the debtors a discharge, which eliminates all their legal responsibilities. However, bankruptcy is a controversial issue amongst religious members of the Jewish population, for one must question whether it is morally correct to avoid paying a dept by filing for bankruptcy. According to the torah, a debt is an obligation that must be fulfilled. Consequently, if a bankruptcy discharge is invoked, under the strictness of Jewish law, one is still required to pay back the money …show more content…

A discharge of debt can be obtained through a majority of creditors, even if there are a minority are not in agreement with this.
Halacha recognizes the fact that commercial transactions are in agreement with secular customs or agreements. This means that if both parties, when making the agreement, agreed that the debtor may file for a bankruptcy discharge, it is halachacilly acceptable. There are two reasons that are connected to each other. The first based on “Minhag Hasocharim”, and the second based on the fact that the parties made their agreement based on secular law. The source for Minhag Hasocharim is based on the Mishna of Hasocher es HaPoalim (Bava Metzia 83a): “One who hires laborers and tells them to come early or stay late: in a place where the custom is not to come early or stay late, the employer is not allowed to force them (to do so)…All (such terms) are governed by local custom”. In fact minhag supersedes Halacha in this case. These local customs do not have to be established by halacha nor by a Jew . Rather, they are the custom of the time and age. In many cases the secular law may have the same effect as a minhag, and may be used even if Dina D’malchusa Dina ( explained below) doesn’t apply. If business is done in the United States, there is a strong argument that that means that the parties

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