Money laundering in our day

שו”ת › Category: Halacha › Money laundering in our day

asked 9 years ago

Hello Rabbi Michael,
From a brief search of the poskim, I did not see any reference to the laws of money laundering under modern economic conditions. I found a brief reference on a yeshiva website: http://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/8520 But that is not exhaustive. I asked whether the laws of financial adultery are even relevant today?
I thought that nowadays, since it is easy to find out the value of products online, the law of embezzlement does not apply at all, and if someone was too lazy to find out what the fair price was before purchasing, that was their problem. What do you think?

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מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago

Regarding financial freedom these days, additional weighty questions arise. Is there even a specific price for the product? Buying in a supermarket is not like buying in a neighborhood store or a food warehouse. You pay for the air conditioning and the space and the lighting and the service workers. There are brands, and there are different results and so on. As a matter of fact, the issue of financial freedom hardly comes up these days. This can be likened to what happens with the prohibition “do not gather together” – you shall not form associations. It is forbidden to establish two synagogues in one city. Does anyone really implement this? Nor should they. Nowadays, the norms are different, and the concept of “city” has become ethnic rather than geographical (the custom is determined by origin rather than location). This prohibition is also almost self-evident in light of the changing circumstances in our modern world. The consideration that it was possible to ascertain the price does indeed negate the prohibition of a faded deception as a gift. See Rambam, Ha-Hayyah, 52:7 and in Pach-27:55, ibid. And Tzala, Ha-Hayyah, 19:8, with regard to a challenger, even though he is aware that there is a deception in him. Indeed, in the Michan, Ha-Hayyah, 19:19, he writes that a challenger is forgiven from the time he agreed to the sale and sets out as a condition that he announced that he was not forgiven. See also the commentary of Kiryat Melech Rav (son of the Michan) on Ha-Hayyah, 7.

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לגבי 'לא תתגודדו' (לרמד"א) replied 8 years ago

What is the problem with establishing two synagogues in one city? In the Gamma, we are reminded of the last verse in the Mtata. Regarding two synagogues in one city, Abaye forbids, but Rava permits, and in two towns, a kollel is permitted.

According to the Maimonides, who ruled in my opinion (contrary to the rule that was followed by the Rabba except for the Kagham), the poskim discussed that communities that originated in different places would be considered two towns even if they are now in one place.

With greetings, S.C. Levinger

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

Ram”a O”h Si’ Tzg 6”g:
And they shall not practice in one city one part of this custom and another part of that custom, because they shall not be crowded together (Deuteronomy 14:1)…