Gabi walked into shul and noticed a sign: “Business Halacha shiur, 8 p.m. tonight by Rabbi Dayan: Ethics on the Job.”
“Wonderful!” exclaimed Gabi. “I’d love to hear a shiur by Rabbi Dayan!” He returned in the evening and took a seat toward the front of the shul.
In the shiur, Rabbi Dayan emphasized the need to respect an employer’s property. “Sometimes people avail themselves freely to supplies from the workplace,” he said. “This is essentially stealing from the employer, and is not allowed.”
After the shiur was over, Gabi introduced himself to Rabbi Dayan. “My name is Gabi,” he said. “I have a small question about something you mentioned. Can I ask you?”
“With pleasure,” replied Rabbi Dayan.
“I’ve been working part time in Dr. Krauss’s office for the past five years,” Gabi said. “Among my responsibilities I handle the bills, which go out once a week. One morning, a few years ago, I saw that there were almost no stamps left.”
Gabi went on with his story:
“Dr. Krauss greeted me with a hearty ‘Good Morning’ and then asked if I was ready to mail out the bills.
“ ‘We’re almost out of stamps,’ I said. ‘I’ll be happy to run over to the post office and pick up a supply.’ ”
“ ‘That would be helpful,’ Mr. Krauss said. He gave me $300 and asked me to buy 34 booklets of stamps; first-class stamps were then only 44 cents each. ‘Choose nice looking stamps,’ he added with a wink. ‘I have an unfounded theory that it encourages customers to pay the bill promptly.’
“I went to the post-office and bought 34 booklets of ‘forever’ first-class stamps,” continued Gabi. “They’re good forever, regardless of the postal rate. The mailing went out as usual and there were plenty of stamps remaining.”
“I was making a party the following week and wanted to send out thirty-five invitations. I don’t know what came over me,” Gabi said sheepishly, “but in a moment of weakness I took two booklets of stamps from the office. ‘What’s the difference?’ I rationalized. ‘Mr. Krauss won’t even notice if two booklets are missing.’ ”
“So what happened afterward?” asked Rabbi Dayan.
“I forgot about,” replied Gabi. “When I heard today’s shiur, it reminded me of this incident. I suppose I need to repay two booklets of stamps?”
“Certainly,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “If you stole them, you need to return them even if the owner is unaware of the theft.”
“The question now,” said Gabi, is that stamps have gone up in price and are now 49 cents. Two booklets of stamps now cost $19.60 instead of $17.60. Do I need to pay the original cost or the current cost of such stamps?”
“What a fascinating case!” exclaimed Rabbi Dayan. “It touches on a couple of principles in returning theft, and the answer depends on three factors.”
“Regarding the stamps that were used,” explained Rabbi Dayan, “the Mishnah [B.K. 93b] establishes a principle:’Kol hagazlanim m’shalmim k’sheas hagezeilah – All thieves pay according to [the value at] the time of the theft.’ Thus, if at the time of the theft the stamps were worth only 44 cents, you pay according to that value, even if now those same first-class ‘forever’ stamps are worth 49 cents.”
“What if the stamps were still intact?” asked Gabi. “Could I just pay the original value and keep them?”
“Regarding stolen items that are intact, you must return them as is,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “It makes no difference whether they are denominated stamps that remain at their initial face value or first-class ‘forever’ stamps that increase, or even decrease, in value.” (C.M. 362:1,10)