Q&A: Why Is It Forbidden to Steal?
Why Is It Forbidden to Steal?
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
Why is it forbidden to steal?
What makes an object “belong” to a certain person, such that another person is forbidden to take it?
A social convention? And then it’s a kind of vow, suppose so. But what obligates me to keep the promise? … 🤔
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. First of all, Jewish law forbids stealing. Beyond that, morality also forbids stealing. If you do not accept either of those, then I have no answer for you. If you do accept at least one of them, then the question does not arise. The question of what makes an object belong to someone is subject to legal-halakhic determination. But that is only the foundation for the prohibition of theft (both moral and legal). If you accept the prohibition without accepting that there is a system of property law, you have emptied it of content.
Discussion on Answer
In my opinion the answer is simply: that’s just how it is.
Why is human life valuable? That’s just how it is.
You always end up at a “why” whose answer has to be: that’s just how it is. Getting there isn’t arbitrary, but comes from an understanding that this is the proper and moral way to act. (Intuition, conscience, etc.) Rabbi Michi can correct me if I’m wrong..?
Yes, but with the prohibition against murder there is an understanding that human life has value, and therefore it is forbidden to take it. That indeed is not reasoned out, but it stands at the foundation of the prohibition against murder.
So? And with stealing from someone there is an understanding that it is not ethical and not proper, and therefore it is forbidden to steal.
Amit, I’m asking what that is based on.
Are you saying this is a fundamental value that does not rest on some other value? I’m asking what gives validity to the statement “this is so-and-so’s property, and therefore such-and-such a person may not take it”? What made this person the owner of the object? A social agreement? (In which case, the prohibition against stealing really rests on the prohibition against breaking promises.)
I’m not really following you. My property is mine because either someone gave it to me or I worked for it and now I possess it, so it’s mine. Taking another person’s property from him is immoral.
Amit, what makes that property his?
So what if he worked for it?
I’m asking what gives force to this social agreement. Is it based on the obligation to fulfill a vow? (A kind of social covenant.)
I do accept (for some reason…) the moral prohibition against theft, but I wonder what its basis is. What forbids me from taking an object that belongs to another person?