You might recall from high school that, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the Jewish money-lender Shylock demands a pound of flesh from Antonio for failing to pay his debt. Is this an halakhically acceptable demand and, should two people make such an agreement, would a beis din uphold it?In the play (which I read over Sukkos 2004, and not in high school) Shylock is denied his pound of flesh because the character Portia discovers a point of law that overrides the contract: Though Shylock is allowed the flesh, he is forbidden to shed any blood in getting the flesh from Antonio’s body.
Would Jewish law see the situation differently from Portia and her gentile court?
I hope not.
