December 6, 2024 / 5 Kislev 5785
Two words, a command which couldn’t be more categorical – lo tignov – Do Not Steal! [Exodus 20:13]
And theft doesn’t involve just material goods. Hear the early rabbis on the topic:
There are seven types of thieves, the first is one who steals knowledge, such as someone who invites guests knowing that they will not accept the invitation or someone who sends gifts to someone knowing that that person will send them back.[Tosefta Bava Kamma 7:8]
Maimonides steps it up a notch or two (or ten):
A person is forbidden to act in a deceptive and smooth-tongued manner. He should not speak one thing outwardly and think otherwise in his heart. Rather, his inner self should be like the self which he shows to the world. What he feels in his heart should be the same as the words on his lips. It is forbidden to deceive people, even a non-Jew… [Laws of Dispositions 2:6]
What would Maimonides say about Rachel and Jacob, I wonder?
Now Lavan had gone to shear his flock; Rahel, meanwhile, stole the terafim that belonged to her father. Now Yaakov stole-the-wits of Lavan the Aramean, by not telling him that he was about to flee. And flee he did, he and all that was his; he arose and crossed the River, and set his face toward the highlands of Gil’ad. [Genesis 31:19-21]
Rachel steals her father’s household idols and Jacob steals his knowledge. Pretty straightforward. Everett Fox comments that this story introduces “a whole vocabulary of trickery.” Many different words to describe deceit and dishonesty.
Can these acts of theft be justified? The Midrash and traditional commentators try.
“Her purpose in this was on God’s behalf; for she said: ‘Now we are going our way. Can we leave this old man in the midst of his idolatry?'” [Bereshit Rabba 74:5]
And the Or ha-Haim (Haim ibn Attar, 18th century Morocco) writes: “The successful flight was possible only because Jacob ‘stole’ Laban’s heart. Our verse wanted to explain how it was that Jacob succeeded in departing unnoticed with all his family, herds and flocks.”
And yet, we’re left with the troubling picture of a beloved matriarch and venerated patriarch stealing and lying in order to advance their interests. Our heroes, it turns out, are all too human and imperfect. And they’re our heroes nonetheless.
Bottom line? “It is forbidden to deceive people.” “Do not steal.”
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi David
