Badatz Pruzbul Letter & Document for the Letter & Document in English in לשון הקודש Pruzbul: What? How? Who? When? What? The annulment of all debts in the shemitah year applies also nowadays, rabbinically, both in Eretz Yisrael and in chutz la’aretz . When our Sages saw that people were not lending money when Shemitah approached, thereby transgressing the prohibition of, “Beware, lest there be in your heart an unfaithful thought, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release has approached,’ and you will begrudge your needy brother and not give him . . and it will be a sin to you”, they enacted the pruzbul . In this ceremony, the lender transfers their debts to a Beis Din, by declaring to them before Shemitah, “I hereby transmit my debts to you, so I may collect them whenever I want.” When he says this, it is considered as if he handed over his documents to the Beis Din and asked the Beis Din to collect the debts for him. Th...