Using a stolen television in the military

שו”ת › Category: moral › Using a stolen television in the military

asked 6 years ago

Hello Rabbi.
Some people from our company stole a television from a company in another brigade while we were together on some occasion.
Am I allowed to enjoy it? It’s a way to pass the time, especially now that we’ll probably be closed for a few months in the army because of the coronavirus.

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מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago

It seems to me that it is forbidden, as it is written in Shulchan Shulchan HaMosh 66:2: It is forbidden to enjoy the thing stolen, even after despair, and he who knows for sure that this thing is the theft itself. How, knowing that this beast is stolen, it is forbidden to ride on it or plow it; if a house or field is stolen, it is forbidden to pass through it or enter it in the heat because of the heat and in the rain because of the rains, and if one lives in it, he must pay rent to the owner if it was capable of being rented; if he steals palm trees and makes a bridge from them, it is forbidden to pass over it, and so on and so forth. Perhaps there was room for some nitpicking, but in any case, it is morally inappropriate. On the contrary, you are obligated to return the theft to its original owner.

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י replied 6 years ago

Regarding theft from a person, it was clear to me that this was the case.
But regarding theft in the army, maybe it's a little different?
This is not a private television that someone brought from home, but an army television, which was simply given to a certain brigade to enjoy.
Can this be seen, even in retrospect for the sake of enjoyment, as a transfer of the army from one hand to another?

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

I don't think there is a difference. If the army gave to unit A, and unit B takes, then it is theft from them. It is possible that it was not theft from unit A but from the army (because it intended to give to unit A). So what?