2) WHO MAY ENTER INTO AN ARRANGEMENT OF "NACHYAISA"?
QUESTION: The Gemara discusses an arrangement called "Nachyaisa" -- "deduction." This refers to a case in which a borrower gives a field to the lender as collateral for the loan, and stipulates that each year a set amount of money be deducted from the debt in exchange for the lender's right to keep the fruit of the field. The Gemara says that such an arrangement does not constitute Ribis. RASHI (DH b'Asra d'Mesalkei) explains that since a set amount is deducted from the debt each year in exchange for the fruit regardless of the quality of crop that the field yields, the arrangement resembles a sale and not a loan with interest. Hence, this arrangement is permitted even if the lender ends up taking more fruit than the set amount which he deducts from the loan.

The Gemara adds that a "Tzurba me'Rabanan," a Torah scholar, should not enter into such an arrangement. The Gemara later relates that Ravina entered into such an arrangement (as the lender). Why did he do this? Was Ravina not a Talmid Chacham? Moreover, Ravina earlier in the Gemara had an argument with Rav Acha. One of them said that an arrangement of Kitzusa (where there is more room for leniency than Nachyaisa) is forbidden, and the other said that although Kitzusa is permitted, an arrangement of Nachyaisa may be done only by an ordinary person and not by a Talmid Chacham. Even if Ravina's opinion in this argument is the lenient one, he still says that a Talmid Chacham may not enter an arrangement of Nachyaisa!

ANSWERS:
(a) TOSFOS (DH Ravina) answers in the name of RABEINU TAM that Ravina simply did not think of himself as a Talmid Chacham. (Tosfos notes that Rabeinu Tam's text apparently read "Rafram" instead of "Ravina.")

The MAHARAM SHIF writes that this explanation is difficult to understand, but he does not explain the difficulty. The CHIDUSHIM U'VI'URIM explains the difficulty. Borrowing money in any other manner (other than through a Nachyaisa arrangement) does not show that a person is a Talmid Chacham! How can Tosfos say that Ravina entered into a Nachyaisa transaction because he did not consider himself a Talmid Chacham? No one would have assumed that he was a Talmid Chacham had he borrowed money in any other manner!

The ELIYAH RABAH (OC 554:26) questions the explanation of Tosfos from the Gemara in Ta'anis (10b). The Gemara there quotes Raban Shimon ben Gamliel who says that a person may consider himself a Talmid Chacham in order to be stringent or act in a more difficult way, such as undertaking a fast which is observed only by Talmidei Chachamim. Accordingly, why did Ravina not consider himself a Talmid Chacham and avoid lending with a Nachyaisa arrangement? Since Nachyaisa is a more profitable arrangement for the lender, Ravina would have had to sacrifice in order to enter an arrangement of Kitzusa instead of Nachyaisa, and thus there would have been no problem of an unworthy person acting like a Talmid Chacham, according to the Gemara in Ta'anis. Why does Tosfos say that Ravina did not want to consider himself a Talmid Chacham, if one is permitted to do so in order to be stringent upon himself?

1. The Eliyah Rabah answers that perhaps the Gemara in Ta'anis refers only to acting in a way which causes physical pain. To undergo physical pain, any person may consider himself a Talmid Chacham. In contrast, to consider oneself a Talmid Chacham in order to turn down a monetary gain gives the appearance of arrogance and is not permitted.

2. The Eliyah Rabah cites the RAMBAM in PERUSH HA'MISHNAYOS (Pesachim 4:5) who writes that the Halachah does not follow the view of Raban Shimon ben Gamliel, and one may never give himself the status of a Talmid Chacham. Perhaps Tosfos here follows the view of the Rambam.

(b) Tosfos quotes others who explain that when the Gemara says that "Ravina ate through Nachyaisa," it actually refers to an arrangement of Kitzusa, which the Gemara says is permitted even for a Talmid Chacham. (Y. Montrose)