Positive Commandment 142 (Digest)
Collecting Loans from Gentiles
"From the foreigner you shall pursue a debt"—Deuteronomy 15:3.
We are commanded to press a gentile to repay a debt that he owes us, and not to have mercy on him [and give him an extension]—as we are commanded regarding a Jew.
[This commandment only applies to a gentile who has not accepted upon himself the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws.]
The 142nd mitzvah is that we are commanded to demand and to put pressure on a non-Jew to repay his debts; contrary to our commandment to have pity on a Jew and the prohibition against demanding repayment.
The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement (exalted be He), "You shall collect from a non-Jew."
In the words of the Sifri: "The verse 'You shall collect from a non-Jew,' constitutes a positive commandment."
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