The Rambam writes at the end of chapter 18 of Hilchos Sanhedrin:
“It is a Scriptural decree that Beis Din does not execute a person or administer lashes on the basis of his own admission, but only on the testimony of two witnesses.”
With regard to monetary matters, however, the rule is that “the admission of a litigant is equivalent to one hundred witnesses.”
The Radbaz explains:
“A person’s life does not belong to him; rather, it is the possession of the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore, his admission is ineffective regarding something that does not belong to him. Lashes are considered a partial form of death. His property, however, belongs to him, and therefore we say that the admission of a litigant is equivalent to one hundred witnesses.”
The explanation is as follows:
Although the entire world belongs to Hashem—including a person’s property—there is nevertheless a distinction between his body and his property.
In a person’s body and soul, Hashem’s ownership is evident. We recognize that the soul is “the soul that You have given me,” and the body itself possesses holiness, for through it a person is obligated to fulfill Torah and mitzvos.
It is therefore impossible for a person to possess true legal ownership over his own body and soul.
His property, by contrast, does not possess inherent holiness, and Hashem’s ownership is not openly evident within it. Therefore, according to the laws of the Torah, a person is given authority and ownership over his possessions.
Of course, Hashem can take a person’s property from him, similar to the statement: “By His will He took it from them and gave it to us.” Nevertheless, within the framework established by Torah, the property belongs to the individual.
This also explains why a blessing is required before deriving physical benefit, but not before deriving monetary benefit.
Just as the body belongs to Hashem, so too the physical pleasure experienced by the body belongs to Hashem, and therefore one must first acknowledge Him through a blessing.
Monetary benefit, however, is like the money itself, which has been placed under the individual’s ownership.
Based on this, we can understand another distinction between monetary and capital cases.
The law states:
“According to Torah law, both monetary cases and capital cases require examination and interrogation of the witnesses. Why, then, did the Sages say that monetary cases do not require examination and interrogation? In order not to close the door before borrowers.”
According to Torah law, the Torah views a Jew as he ought to be.
In such a state, a person recognizes that only the money that he genuinely requires for himself is placed under his authority. If Hashem brings a poor person to him, he understands that this is because he is meant to give that person tzedakah.
Money that is needed for a mitzvah is therefore, in this deeper sense, not his own.
Consequently, he would not refrain from lending money even if monetary cases required the same rigorous examination and interrogation as capital cases, despite the possibility that this might ultimately make it more difficult for him to recover his money.
This is the deeper meaning of the statement that, according to Torah law, “monetary cases and capital cases are alike.”
When a person is as he should be, he recognizes no fundamental distinction between his property and his body: both ultimately belong to Hashem.
It was only because of the decline of later generations, when people no longer feel as clearly that their money belongs to Hashem, that the Sages ruled that monetary cases should not require such examination and interrogation, “so as not to close the door before borrowers”—so that a lender should not be discouraged from lending.
It is written, “You are My witnesses.”
The mission of the Jewish people is to testify to and reveal Hashem’s ownership even within worldly matters, where His ownership is concealed, revealing that “there is nothing besides Him.”
This is illustrated by the well-known story of Reb Binyamin Kletzker.
While conducting his business affairs in accordance with Torah, he once reached the final total of his accounts. Instead of writing the numerical sum, he wrote:
“Ein od milvado” — “There is nothing besides Him.”
Even in the midst of material business affairs, he revealed the truth that everything ultimately belongs to Hashem and that nothing exists independently of Him.