A Guest Post By The Thief
Introduction here. Part I here.
Now you know what my life as a thief was like, why I stole and how great it felt. Part II is about my transition from thief to non-thief. My learning of Judaism which caused me to no longer be a thief did not follow a progressive time line. One event did not lead to the next. I do not know in which order I learned which concepts, but it was a conceptual relationship between the ideas, not a temporal one which caused a shift in my outlook and life choices. In addition, at no point in my life (prior to my change) did I ever regret being a thief or have any intention of learning how to fix that part of my personality.
So this section will instead list the various Jewish stories and laws which gave me a new perspective on things. I am not going to quote sources, because I don’t know them. However, before I begin I will make some philosophical points. Halacha is a set of rules, and because of this I have strong aversion to following them. It is not in my nature to follow rules. Rather, I tend to work around rules. However, unlike most system of rules, Halacha can also be seen as philosophical and moral principles. That is, often when you learn Jewish law you are not /should not be learning a list of do’s and don’ts, but rather you are learning the boundaries of metaphysical principles as applied to life.
The next section is going to be a rather long look at these boundaries and principles as they apply to theft. For the sake of understanding what I mean though, I will for now just put out another example without proof or argument so that you may have a rough understanding of what I mean. One of the 10 commandments is to give Kavod (honor) to your mother and father. The halachas regarding honoring your parents, doesn’t teach you what to do or not do for your parents, rather it teaches you in very specific detail, what it means to give kavod to somebody. That is, the 5th commandment to honor your father and mother is a rule that teaches you everything you need to know about honor. How to give it, why to give it, and to whom to give it.
Now onto theft! In no particular order, I learned the following ideas.
1. It is worse to be a thief than a robber. A thief is shamed by other humans, but not by G-d. A robber however is better because they are not even shamed by humans!
2. Theft does not only apply to objects that a person wishes to keep. You can steel sleep, thoughts, time, and even objects that a person is trying to give away.
3. Halacha has very strange rules of what is consider theft and what is not. It also has very strange rules about what you can do with stolen objects. This is not a post about the intricate laws of stealing or robbery, so just take my word for it. But a few brief examples, some stolen items can be used for a mitzvah, while others can not. Another is that a thief who never admits to stealing, does not have to make the 4 or 5 fold penalty payment. Sometimes, when an item is stolen, the object suddenly becomes owner-less, because the owner has given up hope of ever getting it back, and so the thief is allowed to keep the item but not sell it to others. I am certain that I am remembering some of this laws incorrectly as it has been many years since I studied those tractates of the Gemora. Never the less, they are strange, often counter-intuitive and worth exploring in depth if you are interesting in the subject.
4. There is a midrash (homiletic method of biblical exegesis), that an artist from Moav went to draw Moses’s face. Each time he came back the “experts” said that he drew the wrong person. The man in the picture is arrogant, selfish, and a tyrant. The Moses they heard of, was humble, giving, and understanding. The picture was of Moses as his inner nature and instinct would have him be. Moses overcame this. The message of the midrash is that it is possible for a person to overcome their natural desires and beyond that, go 180 degrees to turn their greatest weaknesses into their greatest strengths.
5. A righteous person, it is said, will be able to give a blessing to others, because it is G-d’s will. That is, a righteous person asks what is already G-d’s Will, instead of asking G-d to change Its Will to match that of the righteous person.
6. There is another saying that theft is the same as idolatry. To steal something is to tell G-d that you do not agree with It’s allotment of resources and instead you, as the thief, know better than G-d does about who should own what.
7. Charity is more important for the person giving it, than for the person receiving it. It is a testament to the understanding of a person’s role in this world for the “divine plan.”
You might be asking at this point what any of those ideas have to do with anything. How do any of those points change the feelings of excitement and joy from a properly executed theft. How do these ideas counteract the arguments regarding justice and redistribution of wealth. In what manner do these points discredit the idea that if a person does not properly protect their items, they deserve to be stolen?
The answer is, THEY DON’T! None of these concepts are even remotely related to the reasons why I would steal, would like to steal, or justified stealing. If a person would try to fashion these points into an argument, and suggest that here is a list of reasons why you should not steal, I can and would counter every one of them.
However, what they do instead is teach a new perspective of the world we live in, and a new perspective of my relationship with that world. Basically, theft and stealing are no longer needed. It is counter-productive to steal items. My strong desires to steal items becomes an easy game. There is no reward, no challenge to do what comes naturally. Instead, if I become a person who never steals, not even the slightest… that becomes a real challenge. That becomes a talent I can harness and grow from. Instead of taking items that I think I deserve, I try to work hard and have those things given to me. Its a tough challenge, but when I succeed it is uplifting. When I look at how I am to give my 10% (charity tithe) to those who can use it, and I accept that those who have things, have them for good reason, I can change my behavior and my attitude in life.
Granted, I still steal today and it’s something I struggle with. But today, my thefts come from accidentally waking people up when they are sleeping, or stealing time away from my boss, or deceiving bloggers in one way or another. But for a good five years or so maybe more, I was proud of the fact that I never stole a thing from anybody. Not with deceptive words, or with waking people up, or anything. I would not borrow a pen without asking first. I would not dry my hands on a towel without first knowing that I was allowed to use it. I took it upon myself to do true teshuva (repentance) regarding theft, and held myself to the highest of standards. At this point in my life, the stealing of things doesn’t just feel wrong or immoral, it feels outright counter-productive.
But none of the reasons ever given to me to not steal by other people ever made a dent. It was only through learning many different Jewish topics, that one idea at a time, slowly invaded my mind and changed my personality completely.
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