Sukkah

because it1 would be a precept fulfilled through a transgression [which is forbidden], as it is said, And ye have brought that which is stolen, and the lame and the sick,2 ‘The stolen’ is thus compared with the lame; just as the lame can never be rectified,3 so that which is stolen can never be rectified, [that is] irrespective of whether the stolen is used before abandonment [of hope of recovery by the owner] or after abandonment. Now this4 is right before abandonment, since the Divine Law said, When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the Lord5 and this6 is not his, but [why should the law apply] after abandonment [of right by the owner], seeing [that the robber] has acquired it7 by [virtue of that] abandonment?8 The reason must then be that it is a precept fulfilled through a transgression. R. Johanan in the name of R. Simeon b. Yohai further said, What is the purport of that which is written, For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity?9 This may be compared to a human king who passed through his custom-house and said to his attendants, ‘pay the tax10 to the tax-collectors’. They said to him, ‘But the whole tax, surely, belongs to thee!’ He answered them, ‘All travellers would learn from me not to evade their payments of tax’. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘I the Lord hate robbery in burnt-offerings;11 let My children learn from Me and keep away from robbery’.12 So13 it was also stated: R. Ammi said, A withered [palm-branch] is invalid because it is not ‘goodly’,14 a stolen one is invalid because it constitutes a precept fulfilled through a transgression. And this15 disagrees with R. Isaac, since R. Isaac b. Nahmani said in the name of Samuel, This16 was taught only with regard to the first day of the Festival, but on the second day, since a man fulfils his obligation with a borrowed [palm-branch].17 he fulfils it also with a stolen one. R. Nahman b. Isaac objected: A STOLEN OR WITHERED PALM-BRANCH IS INVALID, from which it follows that a borrowed one is valid? Now when?18 If you say, On the first day of the Festival, is it not written [it may be objected] ‘to you’19 implying that it should be your own, and this one is not his! Consequently the reference must be to the second day of the Festival, and yet it teaches that a stolen one is invalid?20 — Raba replied: Indeed it refers to the first day of the Festival but he21 implies the form of ‘It is not required’:22 It is not required to state that a borrowed one is invalid since it is not his; but in the case of a stolen one, of which I might say that normally a robbery [implies immediate] abandonment by its owner and that it is, therefore, like his own,23 therefore he informs us [that even a stolen one is invalid].24 R. Huna said to some traders, When you purchase myrtles from heathens,25 do not cut them yourselves, but let them26 cut them and give them to you. What is the reason? — Heathens as a rule acquire their land by robbery27 property. to God. performed through a transgression.