Q&A: Cutting in Line
Cutting in Line
Question
Hello,
Recently I’ve repeatedly run into what seems to me to be an ugly Israeli phenomenon: cutting in line. Sometimes with the excuse that the one line ought to split into two for the two service counters, and sometimes with no excuse at all—just plain cutting in.
My question is whether this meets the criterion of "Do not steal," since it involves taking away the right of the other people waiting to receive service or purchase something.
And more generally, what does Jewish law say about this? Isn’t it obvious that "love your fellow as yourself" and a properly ordered society require respect for lines?
Thank you
Yiri
Answer
I do not see a halakhic prohibition of theft in cutting in line. Nothing is being stolen here. The accepted practice is that services are provided according to order of arrival, and cutting in line violates that practice. But nobody has property rights over anything here.
But that is only with respect to the formal halakhic question. On the moral plane, this is certainly thoroughly wrong, and there is no reason for Jewish law to address it. A religious Jew, like any other person, is supposed to be committed to moral principles. You don’t need Jewish law for that, and that is not its purpose. See Column 15 for a detailed discussion.
Indeed, it is reasonable that cutting in line violates "love your fellow as yourself," entirely aside from any prohibition of theft, of course. But as stated, there is no need for that, since morality is binding even without Jewish law.