Almost all theistic religions tend to extend the application of their rulings beyond the spiritual relation between God and His servants to the more materialistic form of interaction, which is the relation between those individuals themselves. This includes different aspects of human life such as marriage, divorce, succession and commerce. In relation to commerce and business, religious rulings, in general, are particularly concerned with the morality of any business transaction, and one of the main shared grounds between most religions is the prohibition of interest.

Historically, Judaism, Christianity and Islam took a firm line in relation to usury. In this book, Hillel Gamoran presents a clear account of how the prohibition of interest between ‘Israelites’ has been overcome during distinctive historical periods in the life of Jewish law. He further charts the main forces and arguments that have facilitated this transition in the prohibition of interest. The book identifies five types of business transaction to highlight the shift: loan of produce, advance payment for the purchase of goods, buying on credit, mortgages and investments. In every one of these transactions Gamoran illustrates the strict rules that govern the prohibition of interest and the loopholes that have been used to circumvent that prohibition. There are two points that should be made in relation to the last two business transactions identified. In relation to mortgages, Gamoran presents a comprehensive explanation of the two main forms of mortgages that have been developed to overcome the prohibition of interest (conditional sale and mortgage with deduction) and their application throughout the identified historical periods. Regarding investments, he highlights some of the key elements that have been stressed in order to ensure that usury is not being charged: mainly sharing profits and losses, and payment to the working partner for labour, which is an approach very much in common with the principles of Islamic finance. However, the book goes on to expand on how changes to these requirements took place in order to make investments more attractive to investors and eventually to satisfy commercial needs.

Gamoran seems to accept the argument that this transition in the prohibition of interest was a necessity. Further, he seems to agree that the flexibility in the interpretation should be used to fulfil the business needs of society. He presents a valuable contribution to the literature, particularly from a historical and legal point of view.