Acquiring on Credit

Once, before hakafot, Rabbi Shalom Ber of Lubavitch called over a wholesaler and asked him to explain his business. The man replied that he brought merchandise from a large city and sold it to retailers on trust. When the merchant paid for the merchandise, he would be given new merchandise on credit (“behakafah”).

The Rebbe said: “After paying ‘cash’ in the service of Elul, Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, Yom Kippur, Simchat Beit Hasho’eivah, and Shemini Atzeret, one can go to ‘hakafot,’ to take ‘merchandise’ on credit.”

(Sefer Hasichot 5705, p. 57)