By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Imagine working hard to build your dream business – an arcade filled with the games you lov, that offers hourly or daily rates instead of quarters – only to have it brutally ransacked during Thanksgiving weekend. This is exactly what happened to Will Luna, the owner of Extraordinaire Arcade in San Bernardino, California. In a shocking turn of events, thieves executed a clever but devastating plan. While Luna was closing up for the holiday, unbeknownst to him, a woman had been hiding in the building’s attic. Once everyone left, she crept down and unlocked the door, disabled the security system, let in some 18 fellow thieves and unleashed a wave of destruction that would last two devastating days. The thieves took many valuable items, including: Gaming monitors Video game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch), Security cameras, A special X-Men arcade game, Snacks, Keys to all the game machines, and a machine for reading debit cards When Mr. Luna reported the theft to the police, they started investigating, but didn’t make much progress. Then, someone told Luna that they had seen his stolen items in a nearby homeless camp. Even though Luna went to the police, they told him they couldn’t search the homeless camps because of laws protecting homeless people’s rights. So Will Luna decided to look for his things himself. He went through the homeless camps, searching tents, and found some of his stolen items like gaming accessories and snacks. The police told him that while they couldn’t search the tents themselves, Luna was allowed to look for his own property. This isn’t the first time businesses in his area have had trouble. Other shops nearby, including a salon and a pizza restaurant, have also been broken into. Luna had to spend $1,300 at Best Buy to replace some of his stolen equipment, and he still hasn’t found his most valuable items, including the X-Men arcade game. THE HALACHA Of course, our interest in this is halachic.  What would halacha say about the owner retrieving his things by himself?  What may he do and what may he not do? The topic is called Adam Oseh Din L’Atzmo.and it is discussed in meseches Bava Kamma (46b), Rabbi Yehuda says, “A person is not permitted to take the law into their own hands, even in a case where there would be a loss.” The Gemara latefr explains that if a person feels they can judge for themselves, they should still not do so except in a case where they might suffer an irretrievable loss. When one does act on their own behalf in such situations, they must still be able to prove in court that they were within their rights. If someone sees their items being damaged and knows they could lose evidence or a chance to prove their case, they can take action to protect themselves until they can bring the matter before a court. Permission for self-judgment applies only in places where bringing the matter to court would result in a loss. For example, the Gemara in Sanhedrin (5b) discusses the case of clear liability, stating that just as the court would rule in such a matter, so too may an individual act in accordance with what would be obviously ruled. MINIMUM DAMAGE The […]