Personal bankruptcy is not the same in Israel as it is in the United States. The laws governing bankruptcy and debt seem to be more in favor of the creditor than the debtor, and it is not easy to qualify for personal bankruptcy (based on a [very] little bit of research reading articles about personal bankruptcy in Israel and the US, so I might be wrong).

One fellow seems to have tried it just now, in an attempt to wipe out some large debt he accrued to FIBI - the First International Bank of Israel. I don't know how a 20 year old yeshiva student could accrue such large debt that this would become such an issue, but the situation was just ruled upon by the Israeli courts.

The yeshiva student claimed he was doing all he could to repay his debt. Everything, that is, except for going to work to earn enough money to pay it back. The fellow claims he is in yeshiva and learns 14 hours a day, and he is paying back what he can.

The courts ruled that he has an obligation to pay back his debt, and even in Judaic law he has such an obligation and learning Torah is not an acceptable excuse to absolve oneself of this obligation. The debt is considered a "sheebud ha'guf" - a physical obligation on the borrower and just an obligation against his property, and as such he must do everything in his power to repay the debt.

With Torato Umanuto, he might have the excuse that he cannot earn enough to repay the debt. That is not an excuse.

While the case as reported on by both Walla and Bechadrei is an interesting tidbit (though truthfully the decision is kind of obvious), I find the actual court decision to be more interesting.

From the court decision one can see that the court made reference to various sections of gemara and Shulchan Aruch and the Rambam regarding whether learning and working is mutually exclusive  in formulating its decision. As well, the court references luminaries such as Rav Shimon Shwab and a former chief rabbi of Tel Aviv who both discussed the issue of the concept of "Osek b'Mitzvah pattur min ha'Mitzvah" and how Torah study being the most important of mitzvos must at times be pushed aside to fulfill one's obligations.

The court ruled, taking all that into account, that his value as a potential working person is high and he should not be let off with the severely reduced level of payment that he was requesting.

One side note, if he is 20 years old and in yeshiva learning 14 hours a day, that means he did not do army service. That means his potential for employment is actually quite low. He is not allowed to leave yeshiva and get a job right now in order to repay his debt. if he were to leave yeshiva, he would have to serve in the army for three years, again leaving him in a situation with no income (or only negligible income at best) and still unable to repay his debt.

If the bank is willing to wait 3 years plus for that to happen, perhaps that should have been taken into account in the decision and he should be given the reduced payments for the interim period.

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