Two words, and a surprise
"Do not steal" does not say what not to steal. The Sages answer from the verse's neighbors.
The commandment comes right after "do not murder" and "do not commit adultery," and both of those are capital crimes: a court punishes them with death. A baraita (a teaching of the Sages from the time of the Mishnah) uses one of the rules for reading the Torah, that a verse is understood from its context:
The only theft the Torah punishes with death is kidnapping:
Rashi (the classic commentator on the Torah, France, 1000s) brings the same reading on our verse, and so does the Mechilta (an early midrash on Shemot). So where is stealing property forbidden? In Vayikra:
The next baraita on the same page reads this verse from its context too. The verses around it are about money, so it is about money (Sanhedrin 86a). Two verses, then: one guards a person, the other a person's property. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Egypt, 1100s) opens his Laws of Theft with the second:
The Rambam also tells the thief from the robber. A ganav (thief) takes in secret, without the owner knowing; a gazlan (robber) takes openly, by force (Laws of Theft 1:3). Both are forbidden. This page uses "stealing" for both.
Even as a joke
Even a tiny amount is forbidden, and so is taking something you plan to give back.
The Gemara asks why the Torah needs each of its separate prohibitions about taking money: interest, overcharging, robbery. About "do not steal" in Vayikra, it answers with a baraita:
The word in the baraita is lemeikat, and Rashi explains it as "to cause distress." The double payment is the fine a convicted thief pays, twice what he took (Shemot 22:3). Rashi explains the second case: he wants to do his friend a favor and knows his friend would not accept a gift. Even so, he may not take it. The Rambam spells out more ways:
"So that a person does not get himself used to it." Our own observation: the reason is about who you become, not only about what the owner loses. The Shulchan Aruch (the code of Jewish law by Rabbi Yosef Karo, 1500s) rules the same way (Choshen Mishpat 348:1). It also calls a person who borrows something without the owner knowing a robber (Choshen Mishpat 359:5).
Stealing someone's mind
Some theft takes no object at all. It takes what a person believes.
The Hebrew for deceiving someone is geneivat da'at, literally "stealing the mind": leading a person to believe something false, often that you did him a favor you did not do. The Gemara brings the rule in the name of Shmuel:
Rabbi Meir's examples come from everyday hospitality:
The same teaching goes on: a host should not open a barrel of wine that is already sold to a shopkeeper, so that his guest thinks it was opened for him, unless he tells the guest. And it adds: "if it is for his honor, it is permitted." Rashi explains: for the guest's honor, to show other people how dear the guest is to him (Chullin 94a). The Rambam turns these cases into a rule about the kind of person to be:
It applies in business too. A seller who knows of a flaw must tell the buyer (Rambam, Laws of Sales 18:1; Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 228:6).
Stealing, or not?
Eleven clear cases, each with its source. Decide, then see what the sources say.
Our own observation: notice what does not matter. How much it was worth, whether you meant to give it back, and whether the owner was Jewish. What matters is whether you took what belongs to someone else, or led him to believe something false.
Ask your rav
Modern cases where the poskim (rabbis who decide Jewish law) disagree, or where the answer depends on details. This page does not decide them.
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Ask a rav
Downloading a movie, a song or an app without paying
Is copying someone's work the same as taking his property? Does the law of the land, which halacha often follows, decide it? Does it cost the creator a sale? The poskim give different answers and different reasons.
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Using a neighbor's open wifi
Does it cost him anything or slow his connection? Would he mind? The Gemara discusses using someone's property when one side benefits and the other loses nothing (Bava Kamma 20a-21a). How that applies here is a question.
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Sharing a streaming password
The service's terms forbid it. Is breaking a company's terms the same as stealing from it? The details of the agreement can matter.
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Using a sibling's things without asking
Borrowing without the owner knowing is called robbery (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 359:5). In many families everyone assumes permission. When may you assume it, and when not?
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Extra napkins, sauce packets and free samples
What did the store mean to give, and to whom? How much counts as "nobody minds" (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 359:1)?
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Handing in work you did not do yourself
A friend's homework or an essay written by AI: is it geneivat da'at, leading a teacher to believe something false? It also breaks rules you agreed to. Ask early.
Five stories
A brother sold, a soldier's secret, a ferry ride, a silver cup, and a man who wanted to come back. Step through them.
Where it stops
The prohibition is wide. It still has edges, and the Sages kept a road back open.
When nobody minds
The line the Shulchan Aruch draws is whether anyone would mind. The Yerushalmi (the Talmud of the Land of Israel) asks more of the pious. Torah Tech's advice: most real cases are bigger than a toothpick, so when you are not sure the owner would not mind, ask him, or ask a rav.
To save a life
A life comes first, and you take what you need to save it. It still is not yours. You take it meaning to pay.
The way back
The Rambam counts returning what was taken as a mitzvah of its own (Laws of Robbery and Lost Property 1:1). By Torah law, if the stolen thing still exists unchanged, the robber returns that very thing (Laws of Robbery and Lost Property 1:5). But the Sages did not want the road back to be impossible:
This is the testimony of Rabbi Yochanan ben Gudgeda in the Mishnah. In the baraita on it, Beit Shammai say the whole building must come down and the beam go back; Beit Hillel say he pays for the beam, "because of the ordinance for those who return" (Gittin 55a). Our own observation: the robber in the last story above is the same idea seen from the other side.
Torah Tech's advice, if you took something. You can fix it. Give it back, or pay for it, and if that is hard or embarrassing, a rav can help you find a way to do it, even a quiet one.
Across from "Do not take Hashem's name in vain"
In one view in the Mechilta, the third commandment faces the eighth.
In one view in the Mechilta (an early midrash on Shemot), Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel (in some editions, Chanina) holds that the Ten Commandments were written five on each tablet, and he reads each pair across. The Sages there disagree: וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים: עֲשָׂרָה עַל לוּחַ זֶה וַעֲשָׂרָה עַל לוּחַ זֶה, "And the Sages say: ten on this tablet, and ten on that one" (Bachodesh 8:22). In his view the third, about Hashem's name, faces the eighth:
Why would stealing lead to a false oath? Our own explanation: think about how it goes. A thief who is accused does not usually confess. He denies it, and in a Jewish court a denial about money can end in an oath. The Torah describes exactly that person: someone who denies holding his neighbor's property and swears falsely about it (Vayikra 5:21-24). Rashi reads Vayikra 19:11-12, "do not steal, do not deny, do not lie, do not swear falsely by My name," as one slide:
So, in Rabbi Chananya's view, the two face each other. One guards Hashem's name, the other guards your neighbor, and he says that breaking the second leads to breaking the first. Our own note: the same Mechilta reads "do not steal" here as kidnapping, but this teaching speaks of any thief, and it does not say how the two fit.
Common questions
Short answers, with sources.
Is "do not steal" in the Ten Commandments about kidnapping?
That is how the Sages read it. It stands next to murder and adultery, which are capital crimes, so it must be one too, and the theft the Torah punishes with death is kidnapping (Sanhedrin 86a; Shemot 21:16; Rashi on Shemot 20:13). Stealing property is forbidden in Vayikra 19:11.
Is it stealing if I plan to give it back?
Yes. The Rambam forbids stealing as a joke, meaning to give it back, or meaning to pay, "so that a person does not get himself used to it" (Laws of Theft 1:2). The Shulchan Aruch adds stealing to cause someone distress (Choshen Mishpat 348:1).
Is it stealing if it is worth almost nothing?
By Torah law it is forbidden to steal any amount (Rambam, Laws of Theft 1:2). Something so small that nobody at all would mind, like a splinter from a fence for a toothpick, is permitted, and the Yerushalmi says the pious avoid even that (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 359:1).
Is it permitted to steal from a non-Jew?
No. The Rambam says it is the same whether a person steals from a Jew or from an idol worshipper (Laws of Theft 1:1). Deceiving a non-Jew is forbidden too (Chullin 94a; Rambam, Laws of Character Traits 2:6).
What is geneivat da'at?
"Stealing the mind": leading someone to believe something false, often that you did him a favor. Examples from the Gemara: inviting someone you know will not come, heaping gifts on someone you know will not accept them, or letting a guest think a barrel was opened for him when it was already sold to a shopkeeper (Chullin 94a). A seller must also tell a buyer about a flaw (Rambam, Laws of Sales 18:1).
What is the difference between a thief and a robber?
A ganav (thief) takes in secret, without the owner knowing. A gazlan (robber) takes openly, by force (Rambam, Laws of Theft 1:3). Both are forbidden, and both must give back what they took.
I took something. How do I fix it?
Return it, or pay for it (Vayikra 5:23; Rambam, Laws of Robbery and Lost Property 1:1 and 1:5). The Sages made the way back easier for people who return (Gittin 55a; Rambam, Laws of Robbery and Lost Property 1:13). Torah Tech's advice: if it is hard or embarrassing, a rav can help you find a way.
Is downloading a pirated movie stealing?
That is a question for your rav. The poskim discuss copying, intellectual property and the law of the land, and they give different answers and reasons. See "Ask your rav" above.
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