EXOD620 Everyone knows that ["Do not steal"] is one of the Ten Commandments. What may be less well known is that the rabbis have traditionally held that the "Do not steal" in the Ten Commandments refers to stealing people, that is, kidnapping. They derived this meaning because all the other "Do not's" in the Ten Commandments are capital offenses, and kidnapping as the only form of theft that is a capital offense (B. Sanhedrin 86a). Ordinary theft of property is forbidden on the basis of several other verses in the Torah that explicitly forbid theft of objects such as sheep and cattle [e.g. this verse, Lev 19:11]. More specifically to our interest in business ethics, the Torah is aware of that commerce can provide special temptations to cheat, and so we are warned "You shall not have in your bag different weights, a large and small. You shall not have in your house different measures, a large and small. You shall rather have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall you have; that your days maybe lengthened in the land that the Lord your God gives you." (Deut. 25:13-15). These verses from the Torah teach us that it is not acceptable to cheat. If you are selling a pound of olives, you are obligated to deliver a full pound of olives. Obviously, this concept extends to other forms of business cheating and shortcuts. You are obligated to deliver "the full measure" of what the client buys. This is readily understood to include quality as well as quantity: a discussion in the Talmud that shows that when people pay for a specific product--vinegar, medium-quality wine, or select wine--they are entitled to receive what they purchased. (B. Bava Metzia 73a). The concept of "Do not steal" is extended beyond the theft of physical objects to include intangibles. We are forbidden to engage in geneivat da'at -- deception, literally "stealing the mind," creating a false impression, or misleading people. The Talmud explicitly states that such deception is forbidden, and it specifies that one may not deceive "idol-worshipers," which is to say not only Gentiles, who are also ethical monotheist, but anyone at all. (B. Hullin 94b). There are several examples of forbidden deception in the Talmud that we can use to extrapolate to contemporary situations. Some of these examples are: • Letting a guest think you are opening a barrel of wine in his honor, when you plan to open the barrel anyway. This act would deceive the guest to think you thought he was worth a great expense, and it might prompt the guest to think that he must treat you with the same degree of honor the next time you are a guest in his home. • Inviting someone to a meal when you know he will say no. (Does "let's do lunch" sound familiar?) Another contemporary equivalent would be offering to open a very expensive bottle of wine for a guest you are certain will say no. • Giving some meat to a Gentile and allowing him to think it is kosher and therefore more expensive then non-kosher meat when it is not. Even though the Gentile is not required to follow the kosher dietary laws, you may not deceive him in this way, both because he may inadvertently give it to a Jew thinking it is kosher, and because you are misleading him into thinking you are more generous than you are. • Inviting someone to anoint himself with oil when you know the jar is empty.• Offering many gifts to someone if you know he will not accept. Note that exceptions would probably be made for cultures where it was expected both to make the offer and to reject it, since there is no deception in that context. [All these examples are from B. Hullin 94a]. Contemporary applications abound: • Misleading advertising. This is a complex area that requires careful case-by-case consideration. Although it is forbidden to make false claims or to mislead intentionally, it is permitted to make your product look/sound as attractive as possible. There are those who might argue, for example, that advertisements for cars showing sexy women getting out of the cars are misleading because they imply that if the man buys that car, he will attract that kind of woman. I would disagree, because I do not think anyone believes a man's buying the right car will lead to sexy women throwing themselves at him; rather the manufacturers are trying to convey a certain image, to appeal to a particular demographic, and that is not forbidden. • Concealing flaws. For example, if you were selling a used car, it would be forbidden to put an extra heavy weight oil in the car to conceal the fact that the car had an oil leak. • Misleading financial statements. Any actions that would cost potential investors to think the company is financially healthier then it is to encourage them to invest is forbidden. For example, if the client asks a company to invoice them before the end of the year so that it uses up the prior year's budget, even though the goods are not shipped until later in the following year, it would be forbidden to claim all of that revenue without booking a corresponding liability for the goods not yet shipped. Failure to do so would artificially inflate the receiving company's profits, because they will have recorded the revenue but not yet recorded the associated expenses. (By Barry J. Leff, "Jewish Business Ethics")
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