Editing Mesechtas Shevi'it (section)

==== Chovat Gavra (Personal Obligation) ====
From here the Rebbe proves that the remission of debts is not in the category of afka'ata d'malka where the debt is completely canceled automatically, but rather it is a personal obligation upon the creditor to release the debt. And the nature of this obligation is not to nullify the debt completely, but rather to abandon (release) the debt: not to demand it (lo yigos).

According to this, the Rambam's words are explained: "The creditor must say to one who repays, 'I release you and you are already free from me.' If he says 'Nevertheless, I want you to accept it,' he may accept it from him, as it says 'he shall not exact it,' and behold he has not exacted it." This means that the obligation and mitzvah upon the creditor in saying "I release you" is defined by fulfilling what is written "he shall not exact it" - which is not a separate prohibition in the release of debts, but is also the fulfillment of the obligation of release as a positive commandment. This is also the language of the Sefer HaChinuch: "To abandon debts - meaning not to demand them," and as implied by the scriptural language: "Every creditor shall release what he has lent... he shall not exact it from his fellow or his brother... and what is yours with your brother, your hand shall release."

Since "he shall not exact" obligates and compels the creditor to abandon the debt and not demand it, it is understood that automatically the subjugation and personal obligation upon the borrower to repay the debt is nullified (for one depends on the other) - as the Rambam states: "I release you and you are already free from me," meaning the borrower is freed from his subjugation to the creditor. But this is only the cancellation of the subjugation in relation (of the personal category) between the creditor and borrower, but the lien on the borrower's property remains, because the essence of the debt itself has not been annulled.

This explains why according to most legal authorities, there is no mitzvah obligation on the borrower to return the debt to the creditor (even before the creditor says "I release you"); nevertheless it is called "returning his debt" - because even though the borrower is exempt from returning the loan, the debt still remains and is not annulled. In other words: when one borrows, a form of ownership by the creditor takes effect on part of the borrower's property in the amount of the loan.

It is difficult to interpret this as a matter of "repaying a debt is a mitzvah," as some explain in our Mishnah, and the proof is that as mentioned above, this is only an individual opinion that holds there is an obligation on the borrower to return the debt to the creditor (if he did not say "I release you"); furthermore, if this were the mitzvah of debt repayment - even according to the opinion that it is only rabbinic - it would be an actual obligation, and not just "the Sages are pleased with him."