Q&A: Trust in the Master of the Universe, supposedly. In reality: theft and more theft. What can be done?
Trust in the Master of the Universe, supposedly. In reality: theft and more theft. What can be done?
Question
I know someone who some time ago met me together with another person, an upright man.
The upright man asked him: How many children do you have?
And he answered with the number of children he has (a relatively huge number for his age, and every year he updates it…)
The upright man asked him: And how do you support so many?
He replied: It is written in the Zohar that every child is born with his livelihood in his hand, so he really does not need to worry about it.
Because he truly believes that.
Bottom line, I know him, and although he makes a respectable living, he cheats the state and the municipality and other bodies as well. He steals, pulls scams, forges, and that is indeed how he manages to make a good living.
How can one explain to him that his way is wrong?
He claims that it is permitted (and even a commandment) to rig things and bluff, and that anyone who says it is forbidden is just Religious Zionist rabbis…
Is there an explanation that would speak to his own way of thinking and his own “education”?
Answer
There are halakhic arguments, such as the law of the kingdom is law (although the Ran wrote that this does not apply in the Land of Israel, others disagreed with him on this). And the same applies to communal enactments, which certainly do exist even in the Land of Israel. He receives services from the state, and if he does not pay taxes, that is theft.