For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kama 111
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The tenth perek of Massekhet Bava Kamma begins on our daf. Entitled ha-gozel u-ma’akhil (“he who steals and feeds”) it deals with a wide range of subjects but focuses on what is considered to be gezel (stolen) – when it must be returned and when it need not be returned.
The first Mishna in the perek teaches that when a man steals and feeds his children with his ill-gotten gains, his children will not be obligated to return the theft.
We discuss the morality of stealing a loaf for the sake of one’s starving children and the effect of the novel les Miserables on French society.