Corners of a Stolen Mind
Three times in Torah, the explicit commandment not to steal is stated. List the verses, and they form a short chiasm, or mirrored pattern in which the essence of the precept is found in its axis, or the center:
“You shall not steal." Ex 20:15
"You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another."
Le 19:11
"You shall not steal." Dt 5:19
In this case, the definition of stealing is linked to dealing falsely and lying to one another. Lying or dealing falsely is a kind of stealing. It is not at gunpoint, but word-point. These words can be spoken, unspoken (understood by deceptively-arranged conditions), or written. Words are swords because they attack one’s understanding of something. They attack the mind. This kind of theft is known as gneivat da’at, or theft of the mind.
Each kind of deception in the category of gneivat da’at hangs on the general commandment not to steal. As with so many other commandments, the nuances are left to us. How we apply this commandment, which is difficult to quantify, is similar to the commandment to leave the corners of one’s crops for the gleaning stranger, alien, orphan, and widow. No exact measurement comes with the commandment, so it is up to the individual farmer to decide how big his corners are every year. He determines his own generosity based on his own household's needs, not a judge, a sheriff, a government, or the gleaners.
Likewise, each individual is often the sole determiner of how much he or she will steal of someone else’s mind. Is it ever right to steal someone’s mind through deception?
What if your elderly father has dementia, yet he needs to see his physician? When he refuses to go, is it wrong to say, “Let’s go get ice cream,” knowing he will likely forget his objection, or even that you are going for ice cream, en route to the medical appointment?
In a case like this, one must weigh out the commandments to honor one’s parents, care for the aged, choose life, etc., against the commandment not to lie or deceive. Perhaps our conscience will allow us to deceive our father into going to the doctor, yet also stop for ice cream. Each person will mentally sort through the commandments to do as Yeshua taught, remember the “weightier” when two or more commandments appear to conflict. We might rationalize that dad’s mind has already been stolen by disease, and we can’t steal more than what is already missing. Every day, people around the world work through such issues when the goal is to provide some life-giving intervention, and such is the stuff of ethics debates, court decisions, and social media wildfires.
What if, however, the theft is based on an intentional desire to gain what belongs to someone else that can be obtained no other way than through deception?
Or what if we are simply negligent, unaware, and we don’t realize we’re stealing something from someone because it’s less tangible, and he/she never agreed to give it, like time? Negligence is common, ordinary, but can be theft. Often we demand someone’s time, attention, resources, etc., without asking whether it is convenient and agreeable. In other words, is this part of your “corner” today? Or am I trying to glean outside of the corners you’ve provided?
Because we are human beings, only our Heavenly Father can provide unlimited corners of time, resources, and attention. Yeshua knew to withdraw to the mountain or wilderness alone to replenish and strengthen himself for the hordes following him, all needing something: healing, teaching, bread, correction, encouragement, validation, love. When the woman with the issue of blood touched the corner of his garment, Yeshua KNEW goodness had gone out of him. We, too, can be depleted when overrun with honestly hungry gleaners.
The beast, however, prevails when a human being sees something that another has, desires it, and deceives to obtain it. The multitude of systems, especially commercial, that are destroyed in Revelation reflect judgment on the innumerable thefts these systems perpetuate upon humankind. As with the serpent in the Garden, the beast knows deception, the stealing of the mind, is the only way to obtain control of the “Garden.” In Isaiah 14:4-15, the King of Babylon is warned that his desire to rule even the heavens will fail, although he will be able to subdue the earth for measured times. Babylon is the first of the beast kingdoms, the head, or “mind” of the beast. Whatever the King of Babylon wanted, be assured the successive beast kingdoms wanted…and still want down to their little iron and clay toes. The commercial system that uses human need and desire as the bait for their traps will fall, fall. It is a system of gneivat da’at, or stealing of the mind, and its great weapons are the treacherous deal and lies:
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…and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Re 21:27)
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Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. (Re 22:15)
Hershey Friedman writes:
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“The literal meaning of geneivat da'at in Hebrew is theft of one's mind, thoughts, wisdom, or knowledge, i.e., fooling someone and thereby causing him or her to have a mistaken assumption, belief, and/or impression. Thus, the term is used in Jewish law to indicate deception, cheating, creating a false impression, and acquiring undeserved goodwill. Geneivat da'at goes beyond lying. Any words or actions that cause others to form incorrect conclusions about one's motives might be a violation of this prohibition. One does not have the right to diminish the ability of another person, Jew or Gentile, to make a fair and honest evaluation, whether in business or interpersonal relations.” (Friedman, H.)
Friedman says that scholars believe that geneivat da'at is included in the transgression of "you shalt not steal (Leviticus 19:11)" because in Leviticus, the commandment against stealing is in the plural, lo tignovu (in the Ten Commandments it is in the singular, lo tignov). This plurality of situations creates those vague “corners” of the mind where one might steal or be stolen from.
From this precept, laws developed in Judaism prohibit concealing defects in a product, using bait-n-switch (advertising a lower priced product, then being “sold out” and selling a higher-priced item), or even using celebrity endorsements which might lead a reasonable person to purchase an inferior product based on the endorser’s good name or credentials. When someone advertises the “buy one, get one absolutely free,” it must not be a lie. The price of the one item cannot be inflated to deceive the buyer into thinking the second product is free. How many businesses would stay in business if they frequently gave away truly free products?
Friedman describes selling nutrition supplements as weight-loss, wrinkle-elimination, or memory-improvement aids when there is no or limited scientific evidence that they have any such effect, cheating on tests, padding one’s resume, using insincere, manipulative charm, as gneivat da’at, for they create a false impression. Plagiarism, or copying work not one’s own, then passing it off as original thought is gneivat da’at, stealing in two ways. It steals the work, education, experience, and honor of another writer, artist, musician, and it steals the minds of those who read, listen, or view the product. Citation of sources, when, known, is simple. For instance, my own Torah teacher introduced the phrase gneivat da’at in a Torah lesson, so I researched further, and found the most succinct explanation in an article "Geneivat Da'at: The Prohibition Against Deception in Today's World" by Hershey H. Friedman.
Now, what if the other person expects embellishment? It is already part of the social agreement, such as listening to a comedian. We do expect storytellers, novelists, and comedians to entertain us by embellishing things, and even when a friend tells us a funny story, we expect a little exaggeration and words like “gazillion.” In this case, there’s not a false impression. We may purchase the product by paying money, laughter, attention, applause, time, etc., but there’s no deception in the transaction. When a writer uses an ellipsis, it is a signal that he/she is being succinct, not intentionally leaving out vital information. You are free to go look up what was replaced by the ellipsis.
The digital age has enhanced to an incredible degree gneivat da’at. You think one thing is happening, then you find out you’ve been duped. You clicked on a tab that you thought would open up a full article, then you find out it was an advertisement disguised to look like the article tab. You click on what you think is a news article, but it drops bits of information to entice you through scores of advertisements. You register or create an account to purchase a product, yet somehow you end up on the mailing list. Or multiple mailing lists. You might end up with your personal information sold on the dark web to be spammed, phished, and robo-called for eternity.
Because we are so used to being scammed, we adjust to it, but according to the Word, it is ON THE LEVEL WITH SEXUAL IMMORALITY, MURDER, SORCERY, AND IDOLATRY. Vacuuming personal data under the guise of “providing better service” is usually deceptive. When laws try to limit it, a workaround is developed. Because the thief knows most people wouldn’t divulge personal information to total strangers for commercial or more nefarious use, they must deceive to obtain the data.
In previous generations, a swindler or thief would acquire a reputation in his/her community, and everyone would know to avoid doing business with that person. The digital age puts us in contact with scores of swindlers and thieves every day, and yet the person merely creates new emails, websites, clones phone numbers, etc., so that the thief is rarely confronted by his victims or potential victims. We are repeatedly enticed to take online surveys and review products “because your opinion matters,” when really, it doesn’t, or we’d not spend hours on hold with customer service. Usually, we’re just helping them tweak their marketing algorithms, letting them steal our minds.
Not everyone is entitled to know everything about our personal lives, spending habits, hobbies, etc. We determine how wide the corners are, and when our lives are conducted so often on the internet spiderweb, the thieves don’t stop at the corners of our fields. They crawl in our windows, slip under the door, and steal even the time it takes to endlessly set up new safety barriers. In its intangibility, mind-theft has the most tangible effect on its victims: anxiety, disease, suspicion.
Friedman summed up the theft of the mind by citing the story of Absalom:
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“Geneivat da'at is not a minor prohibition. Rabbi Eliezer of Metz (Sefer Yereim 224) says that Abshalom, son of King David, deserved death for violating the Torah law against geneivat da'at. As the Talmud notes (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 9b), Absalom "stole the hearts" (Rabbi Metz clearly believes that "stealing the heart" is the same as geneivat da'at) of three parties - his father, the court, and the people of Israel - and therefore was punished in that his heart was pierced by three darts (II Samuel 18: 14).”
Obtaining loyalty and love deceitfully is a grave offense. It occurs when a severely emotionally wounded person feels isolated and that no one cares. The heart-thief will swoop in, comfort disingenuously, and gain an ally for his or her future wicked plans. Often this person’s comfort is unexpected for a reason. He would never approach you when your mind was strong and guarded. We might say, “Well, when no one else cared, so-and-so was there for me.” Uh huh. False care is a way the charmer forges an alliance with someone who would never otherwise support his actions. We sell our minds and loyalty for an emotional bandaid. Ads play on this, charming us into products we don’t need: “You deserve the best…” “You’re one of a kind…” Those marketers don’t know or care if you deserve the best; they just want you to associate their product with a good feeling about yourself and buy it.
Businesses want repeat customers. Kings and governments want loyalty. Ministries want to be a trustworthy resource for their particular gift. The temptation for the “supplier” is to build trust, but on a false impression. Deals that aren’t really deals. Charming promises that will never be kept or kept to the detriment of the citizens. Ministries that meet needs in order to build an empire. Charm is deceitful. On the other hand, are we willingly gullible to anyone who will tell us what we want to hear, give us free what isn’t really free, or preach forgiveness and grace without teaching what sin is and its consequences?
Mind-theft has gone on since the Garden. So has willing gullibility when human beings believe they can acquire something desired and valuable with less or no effort on their part. The serpent asked a disingenuous question: “Did God really say…?” He wasn’t really asking the question; he was trapping Eve with it. The serpent didn’t care about Eve as a human being at all; he wanted her power to rule the Garden.
You’ve run into this before. Someone asks you a question, not to seriously consider your answer, but to find out if you validate his pre-determined answer or goal. You possess something he wants. He’s stolen your mind because he’s stolen your time. You had more fruitful things you could have been doing. That was a pun. Like the grave offense. Anyway, Yeshua dealt with such mind-thieves repeatedly. Sometimes we do it even when we don’t realize we’re doing it to someone. If unsure, then thank someone for his or her time. The corners may become more generous. You might even be invited inside the house. It’s not stealing if your motive is transparent, if someone wants you to have it, and gives it to you. Freely. The twelve disciples were given way more access to Yeshua's mind and heart because they gave up something to follow him day and night.
Nothing fills a depleted generosity tank like gratefulness. Simple questions let you know how much mind-time people have to give. Close friends and family are identifiable because their corners are large; you can march straight to the dinner table! You’ve established relationship. People you know less well deserve a courteous question that lets them know you hold them in esteem and value their time: “Do you mind if I forward you the occasional email?” “How do you feel about video recommendations?” “Do you have time to make a recommendation/answer a question?” “May I make a suggestion?” “Could I follow up on this when you have more time?”
Until this generation, letters required lots of time to write, address, mail, and wait for an answer. In ancient times, messengers might take months to carry a message. Because cell phones, email, texting, and messaging are so fast and easy, often every nook and cranny of our days is crammed with messages and calls. They rarely receive the same degree of thought as that well-crafted letter with the sincere courtesies of “Dear,” “How are you?” “Your humble servant” (if you remember that one, you’re older than me), “Kind regards” of the past. When someone wrote a letter, it demonstrated the sender’s willingness to commit time to the dialogue. The sender was investing in the relationship, not dashing off a few lines while he waited in traffic or clicking for instant answers.
Can we combat mind-theft?
Sure. If we each install an anti-theft device called the sword of the Word, we will grow in our alertness for mind-stealers, and we’ll be less likely to steal someone else’s mind. We’ll be honest about our motives. We’ll be clear about where our corners end, and we’ll not glean beyond someone else’s corners. We don’t have a right to demand, charm, deceive, or coerce from others the resources that they didn’t agree to give, nor do we have to allow others to encroach upon our own designated boundaries, especially the resource that is never recovered if lost to deception: time.
Because these boundaries are different with every person, we can apply the second great commandment as our guide: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We can let folks know our boundaries without being rude, false, or vague. We can ask others what their boundaries are. We can’t move someone’s boundary, nor should we be expected to relinquish ours. A respectful relationship will help us to keep agreements and relationships truthful, fruitful, and growing.
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Next week we will return to a study in the Footsteps of Messiah series, but this was heavy on my heart when we studied Leviticus 19 a couple of weeks ago. It’s a bit tardy, but maybe just on time.
We plan to live stream Footsteps EARLIER on YouTube at approximately 1:15 pm Eastern.
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SHABBAT SHALOM!
