Mishegas

Thou Shalt Not Steal This Book

The Times Argus reports,

If the New York Times were to compile a “Most Stolen Books” list, near the top would be the Beat Generation classics “Howl,” by Alan Ginsberg, and “On the Road,” by Jack Kerouac. Also up there, not surprisingly, would be “Steal This Book,” the popular ’70s hippie guide on how to live for free, by Abbie Hoffman.
And topping the list, in some cities at least, would be none other than the Holy Bible itself.
“It’s true, it’s absolutely true,” said Kevin Finn, the manager at Book People, an independent bookstore in Austin, Texas. “The most shoplifted book is the Bible.”
Why? “Perhaps people feel the Bible should be free,” he said.

Full story. (c/o Josh E.)

6 thoughts on “Thou Shalt Not Steal This Book

  1. i have a serious halakhic question, for anyone who knows a serious answer.
    in u.s. constitutional precedents we have this idea that the corporation is a person. it has the same rights as a person, so it’s possible to violate its rights; you can steal from it, etc.
    is there a particular point in halakha where corporations are made into people? or, for example, where it is somehow reckoned with that when you steal from, say, a barnes & noble, you’re still stealing, even though it’s not from any particular individual? i’m sure there must be, and i’d be interested to know the reasoning behind it.

  2. IMO, Rabbi Broyde is a dependable source for this sort of thing – mara d’atra of the Young Israel in Atlanta and on the Emory Law faculty.

  3. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if the Bible is the most published book it would have a high number of thefts simply because of the number of them in print?
    There is a big difference between religious morality and realistic morality. If you have real morals it wouldn’t matter if it was a corporation or a person, a jew or a non-jew, you wouldn’t be doing it regardless.

  4. If Barnes & Noble needs to sell enough books to pay its employees, and to pay for overhead, and then to buy new books, of course it is still theft to steal from it, though it is not a person.
    What happens to its employees when the income is not enough to pay them and the rent?

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