If we do not steal from our neighbor, is that all we are required to do? Or are we commanded to guard our neighbor’s property as if it were our own?
Are the thefts of pennies equal to the theft of a fortune? Can we save up small virtues to cover a whopper of a theft?
Is paying a minimum wage or refusing to tip for bad service a type of theft?
Can we tithe to the Lord from ill-gotten gains?
INTRODUCTION
The medieval Rabbis, Rashi, Ramban or Maimonides, and Ramban or Nachmanides, lived in the 11th and 12th century in Europe in the Holy Land, we discuss them in the beginning of our video on the Medieval Rabbis, Do Not Envy.
We also want to mention that in the Jewish translation, the word for the name of the Lord is so holy that Jews cannot pronounce it, so they often translate it as Adonoy, the merciful aspect of the Lord, or Elohim, the judgmental aspect of the Lord.
MEDIEVAL RABBIS: DO NOT STEAL
Theft is the most pervasive of sins. What sins against men do not also involve theft? Coveting is theft in the heart. Adultery steals affection. Bearing false witness steals reputations. Killing steals life. Not honoring your parents steals respect.
But when most people think of this Mitzvah, they think of stealing property:
Negative Mitzvah 244: “Do not steal.” Exodus 20:13
And they think of stealing money:
Negative Mitzvah 245: “You shall not withhold the wages of your fellow Jew, and you shall not rob.” Leviticus 19:13
Divorce involves theft because the wife and children usually make do with less after the divorce than before. The other woman receives trinkets paid with treasure that should be going to his wife and children. Since withholding wages is equated with robbery, withholding child support must be a far worse offense.
Since the Mitzvoth condemning adultery and murder are capital offenses, Rashi and many rabbis think the Mitzvah against theft prohibits kidnapping, since it is a form of stealing:
Negative Mitzvah 243. “Do not steal (by kidnapping human beings).” Exodus 20:13
Rambam teaches us: “By this prohibition, we are forbidden to abduct an Israelite. It is contained in His words in the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt not steal, on which the Mekilta says, ‘Thou shalt not steal, this is the prohibition of abduction.’”
Rambam adds a most haunting note: “He who steals a human being is killed, because he is also prepared to kill him whom he steals.” (Moreh Nebuchim III, 41)
Another way to put this is:
“You shall not cheat one another,
And you shall fear your G_d,
For I am Adonoy, your G_d.”
Leviticus 25:17
Ramban comments that the verse applies to cheating others in business. But wronging one another in business is listed by Rambam as:
Negative Mitzvah 250.
“If you sell anything to your neighbor,
or purchase anything from your neighbor,
do not cheat one another.”
Leviticus 25:14
Do we steal from waiters or waitresses when we refuse to tip them at least ten percent? What if they provide poor service? That is no excuse, God has punished them enough, as they may only have the ability to be waiters or waitresses. Those who are paid starvation wages worry about their very survival, worrying about where they will sleep, worrying about what they will eat, which sometimes affects their performance.
Paired with the negative Mitzvah against stealing is the positive Mitzvah that the stolen article be returned:
Positive Mitzvah 194.
“It shall be that when he realizes his sin and incurs guilt,
he shall return the stolen property that he stole,
or, the wages that he withheld,
or, whatever keepsake that was placed in his trust,
or, the lost item which he found. “
Leviticus 5:23
You must be charitable:
Positive Mitzvah 195.
“Open your hand generously
to your brother, to your indigent,
and to your destitute in your land.”
Deuteronomy 15:11
The Mitzvah commanding you to lavish gifts to a Hebrew bondsman on his freedom applies:
Positive Mitzvah 196.
“When you send him free from you,
do not send him away empty-handed.
You must present him with a severance bonus from your flocks
and from your threshing area,
and from your wine cellar,
whatever Adonoy, your G_d has blessed you with,”
that you should share with him.
Deuteronomy 15:14
Should this also apply to former spouses? How many divorcing husbands seek to give the mother of their children as little as possible? Is resentment at paying child support and alimony a subtle type of theft?
Rambam also teach us that we should not refuse to pay our debts, nor repudiate them:
Negative Mitzvah 247.
“You shall not withhold the wages Of your fellow Jew
And you shall not rob.
It shall not remain overnight,
The wages of a day-laborer,
Keeping it in your possession until morning.”
Leviticus 19:13
Negative Mitzvah 248 & 249.
“You shall not deny a rightful claim
And each of you shall not lie to each other.”
Leviticus 19:10-11
Rashi’s commentary reminds us that the sins the Decalogue warns against are linked:
“If you steal,
in the end you will deny,
in the end you will lie,
in the end you will swear falsely.”
And the ex-husband and the other woman should not be guilty of the following Mitzvah:
Negative Mitzvah 256.
“You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.
If you do mistreat them,
When they cry out to Me,
I will indeed hear their cry.”
Exodus 22:21-22
Why should we not deal harshly with widows and orphans? The former wife is like a widow since her marriage is dead, and her children are like orphans since they often feel abandoned. Interestingly, Rambam mentions that we should speak to and treat the mother and her children gently and kindly. We should be especially kind to them, as “their souls are exceedingly depressed and their spirits low.”
We are including this Mitzvah in our list:
Negative Mitzvah 257.
“If your brother becomes impoverished
And is sold to you,
You must not work him like a slave.”
Leviticus 25:39[1]
This means that today we should not drive the minimum wage employee like he was a slave. We must also be generous in almsgiving to the poor.
RABBINICAL COMMENTARY IN THE BOOK OF LEGENDS
The rabbis in the Book of Legends, which are moral excerpts from the Talmud, teach that there are four kinds of men:
- The average man, like those in Sodom, who says, “Mine is mine, and yours is yours.”
- The ignorant man who says, “Mine is yours, and yours is mine.”
- The pious man who says, “Mine is yours, and yours is yours.”
- The wicked man who says, “Yours is mine, and mine is mine.”[2]
Another rabbi teaches us: “He who steals a portion of wheat, grinds it, kneads it into dough, bakes it, and sets aside a portion as challah,” or bread bakes for religious festivals, “what blessing could he possibly utter? Surely, he may not utter a blessing, for he would be blaspheming, as is said, “The robber who utters a blessing blasphemes the Lord.”[3]
Would this also apply to the businessman who seeks to donate to charity gains ill-gotten from fraud or theft? Would this apply to the businessman who did not pay his workers a living wage even though he could afford to? Is paying the minimum wage a type of theft, if the worker is trying to survive on those wages?
The rabbis teach us that we should not tempt the thief: “A breach in a fence should not be made in front of an honest person, and especially not in front of a thief. A breach invites the thief.”[4]
“When a thief has nothing to steal, he regards his virtue as real.” “With nothing to steal, the thief regards himself as law-abiding.”[5]
The rabbis teach us that even taking a toothpick or wood chip without the owner’s consent is theft. A rabbi requested of his disciple: “Fetch me a chip to pick my teeth,” but then retracted his request: “Do not bring it. Should everyone come and help himself to a chip, the man’s bundle would be entirely used up.”[6]
The spiritual danger is regarding the theft of pennies as equal to the theft of a fortune. If trivial and substantial thefts are equal, can we save up the virtue from many small uncommitted thefts to tide us over any whoppers?
In other words, who is the worst thief: the thief who orders water but then helps himself to soda, which costs pennies, hundreds of times, or the thief who steals someone’s business or lies about the condition of the house he is selling, even though it may be technically legal?
Previously, we reflected on the commentary by the medieval rabbis Rashi, Rambam, and Ramban on the commandments: Do Not Envy or Covet, and Do Not Slander. We also have prior reflections on Do Not Steal from Dr Laura and Martin Luther. We have many more reflections in our Decalogue series.
Do Not ENVY: Teachings from the Medieval Rabbis: Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, and the Talmud
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-decalogue-in-the-torah-blog-4-coveting-the-sin-that-leads-to-many-other-sins/
The Decalogue in the Torah, Blog 5, Coveting Tempts You To Harm Your Neighbor
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-decalogue-in-the-torah-blog-5-coveting-tempts-you-to-harm-your-neighbor/
https://youtu.be/TOJr5J7N9Xc
The Decalogue in the Torah, Blog 6, Do Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-decalogue-in-the-torah-blog-6-do-not-bear-false-witness-against-your-neighbor/
Do Not SLANDER: Teachings from the Medieval Rabbis, Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, the Torah and Talmud
https://youtu.be/KvKOCyREmQA
Do Not Steal and Excuses People Make: Dr Laura and Her Rabbi Stewart Vogel on Ten Commandments
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/do-not-steal-dr-laura-and-her-rabbi-stewart-vogel-on-ten-commandments-and-excuses-people-make/
https://youtu.be/PrPGIDZudZk
Martin Luther, Do Not Steal, Lutheran Catechisms
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/martin-luther-o-not-steal-lutheran-catechisms/
https://youtu.be/0ZYeEB2OTC4
DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
We have separate book reviews on the three medieval Jewish rabbis, Rambam, Ramban, and Rashi, and the compilation of the moral teachings of the rabbis, The Book of Legends, plus another book and DVD reviews on the Decalogue.
Book Reviews, Commentaries of Torah and Talmud, Medieval Rabbis and Modern Rabbis and Scholars
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/book-reviews-commentaries-of-torah-and-talmud-medieval-rabbis-and-modern-rabbis-and-scholars/
https://youtu.be/mvstpk88TxI
Book and DVD Reviews on the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/book-and-dvd-reviews-on-the-ten-commandments-or-decalogue/
https://youtu.be/KptDGFJG0TE
[1] For those works cited that are organized by either Mitzvah or by verses, page references are unnecessary.
All Scripture quotations are from the Metsudah Chumash.
The Metsudah Chumash/Rashi, Five Volume Set, translated and/or annotated by Avrohom Davis, Hachum Kornfeld, and Abraham Walzer, (New York, Metsuda Publications, 1999-2002),
The Torah/Chumash with Rashi’s commentary are online at www.chabad.org , search by bible verse.
Rambam Maimonides, The Commandments, translated by Rabbi C Chavel, Volume One, Positive Commandments, Volume Two, Negative Commandments (New York: The Soncino Press, 1967)
Ramban Nachmanides, Commentary on the Torah, Five Volume Set, translated and annotated by Rabbi C Chavel (New York: Shilo Publishing House, 1976)
Ronald Eisenberg, The 613 Mitzvot, A Contemporary Guide to the Commandments of Judaism (Rockville, MD: Schreiber Publishing, 2005)
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah (New York: Harper Collins, 2001)
[2]The Book of Legends, Sefer H-Aggadah, translated by William Braude, (New York: Schocken Books, 1992, original 1911), Part 5, Chapter 3, “Theft, Robbery, and Bloodshed,” paragraph 128, p. 651.
[3] The Book of Legends, Sefer H-Aggadah, Part 5, Chapter 3, “Theft, Robbery, and Bloodshed,” paragraph 135, p. 652, quoting Psalm 10:3.
[4] The Book of Legends, Sefer H-Aggadah, Part 5, Chapter 3, “Theft, Robbery, and Bloodshed,” paragraphs 140-141, p. 652.
[5] The Book of Legends, Sefer H-Aggadah, Part 5, Chapter 3, “Theft, Robbery, and Bloodshed,” paragraph 157, p. 654.
[6] The Book of Legends, Sefer H-Aggadah, Part 2, Chapter 1, “R Zera, 4 AD,” paragraph 509, p. 294.
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