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Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig
EIGHT

בֹנ ְ ג ִ ת אלֹ

Do Not Steal: A Different Perspective

he prohibition of stealing for himself but rather to eventu- Throughout our lives, we are some-
seems obvious at first glance. ally return it to the owner – this is a times quick to judge others accord-
TWhat new idea can we lawful act, which is not prohibited in ing to their actions. We erroneously
learn from this seemingly obvious any way. believe that the external result of
emphasis? their actions is sufficient for us to
However, a thief is considered as render some sort of judgment.
When we look at the legal form this committing a prohibition for pre-
law takes and infer the philosophical These Corona times offer several
underpinnings of the law from that cisely this reason: his intent. Since good examples of why this is wrong.
form, we can understand something the thief intends to remove the object If one were to say: “I know some-
that can change the way we evaluate from the possession of its owner, and one who hasn’t visited his parents in
our actions and those of the people the owner does not intend to give it months,” we might think this individ-
around us. to him (because if he did, it would be ual was not a good son or daughter.
lending or selling) – he is a thief. This is certainly a valid conclusion,
What is ownership? How is owner- but it is only one of several we could
ship effected? The simple answer infer from this information. I think
would be that when something is we all understand that in current cir-
in my possession, physically (in my cumstances, such information would
hands, or within a place that belongs not imply a lack of respect for parents,
to me, such as a house or a car, etc.) but rather an attempt to ensure their
– it is mine, and when it is not in my safety.
possession, physically – it isn’t. How-
ever, this is not entirely true, as we While the action – or in this case the
don’t always have our possessions in non-action – of both the caring child
our hands. For example, if I lend a and the neglecting child is the same,
neighbor a book, a hammer, a chair, the intent is what really matters.
etc. – has it ceased being mine? When
I give the bank my money for safe- And this is what we learn from the
keeping, has it switched owners? Of prohibition to steal: intent is a pivotal
course not! factor, and our judgment of the things
happening around us must always
The Torah discusses the level of lia- take this into account. And since,
bility and responsibility these indi- more often than not, the exact extent
viduals have towards the objects What this shows is that ownership is of a person’s intent is unknown to us,
entrusted to them by the owners, but not primarily about a given state of perhaps we should be more modest
the object is still – at its core – an affairs, or even about an action taken in our clear-cut evaluations of others.
object which belongs to the owner. at a specific time. One could own an Before we jump to conclusions, let us
object even if it is on another con- try and judge people favorably and
This is an important point because meritoriously, as we would like them
it saves the person now holding the tinent, a different time zone, and in to judge us too.
object from being a thief. In other the hands of another person. The
words, since the owner intends to difference between someone who has
temporarily detach himself from borrowed an object and someone who Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig is a community
ownership by giving the object to has stolen it is mostly this: the intent Rabbi of the Netzach Menashe community
someone else, and that someone else they have when the object comes into in Beit Shemesh and the author of several
does not intend on stealing the object their care. books

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