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(you shall not steal)
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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"Vays kolner" (white collar) crime; securities "shvindl" (fraud); bank hold ups; car thefts; tax evasion; cheating on exams; plagiarism; and downloading songs without paying for the right to do so--are all forms of stealing.
Gail Lichtman of The Jerusalem Post wrote an article titled, "Thou shalt not steal," on March 22, 2007. Her opening lines: "Taking something from a store without paying is stealing. but many have trouble seeing downloading music from the Internet, copying software or plagiarizing as theft."
Some people say that if Robin Hood were alive "haynt" (today), he'd steal from the poor because the rich carry only a "kredit- kartl" (credit card).
An article by Lore Croghan (Daily News, 11/13/09) caught my attention. She writes that "The recession has made America's fingers stickier than ever. Shoplifters stole a staggering $42.2 billion worth of items like razor blades, Wii games, iPods and even fresh meat in the past year, a new study estimates."
There are other forms of stealing. Here is a
caravan going along over the desert. Here
are a gang of robbers. They say, "Look!
There is a rich caravan; let us go and rob it."
But one of the robbers says, "Oh, no; that is
dangerous. Let us, instead, go to where there is a spring--the only spring
at which
this caravan can get water in this desert.
Let us put a wall around it and call it ours;
and when they come up, we won't let them
have any water until they have given us alt
the goods they have."
(Source: from an address given by
Henry George, in N.Y.C., May, 1887)
Why we even have something called "pulpit plagiarism." As more and more churches and synagogues post their sermons online, others are lifting the text outright. "Now in Poland, a priest caught using a plagiarised sermon can face stiff fines or even as long as three years in prison, though no one has actually been charged or sentenced. (Source: "Thou Shalt Not Steal Your Sermon, 5/6/08, reported in brisbane Times.)
The problem exists in other parts of the world, particularly in Britain and America, where the practice has been dubbed, "pastoral plagiarism."
The Biblioteka Kaznodziejska is a monthly magazine that publishes sermons which have been delivered from the pulpit in Poland.
Homiletics is the art of composing and preaching sermons. According to Marc Saperstein, "...the sermon is by its nature intended for the Jewish community as a whole. Sermons therefore reflect not only the beliefs of the preacher, but the preacher's assessment of his congregation's theological sophistication, receptivity, and needs." Alexander Alan Steinbach says, "He who would master the art of preaching usually selects an authentic text and treats it as a musician handles notes, as a painter deals with colors, as a sculptor with marble."
According to the website, "Clerical Whispers," church heads are discussing the possibility of teaching trainee priests about the concept of intellectual property.
The main culprits are said NOT to be older priests, who often do not have access to the internet, but their more youthful counterparts.
Young priests turn to the web when they are less than proficient at public speaking, and particularly on a Saturday night when they are panicking about having nothing to say at mass the following morning, says Przyczyna.
The church authorities have said they will start to carry out systematic checks in an attempt to clamp down on the practice and will rely on sharp-eared parishioners to compare online texts with those in Biblioteka Kaznodziejska.
In conclusion, Rabbi Barry H. Block delivered a wonderful sermon on Feb. 17, 2006, titled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal: A Controversial Commandment." This one paragraph sums it all up just beautifully:
"Perhaps worst of all, when we engage in any manner of thievery, we teach our children that our own monetary desires supersede ethics. We show our offspring that honesty and integrity are empty words, since we will so easily abandon them if they cost anything. As the Rabbis taught, aveirah goreret aveirah, "One sin leads to more sin." Once we are thieves, why not steal? And if we be robbers, how can we expect anything different from our children? They, too, are our victims, whether they are our own offspring or other young people in our community, who follow our lead." (Thank you, Rabbi Block.)
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