The Blogs: Olive theft betrays Avraham’s moral legacy: A response to Rabbi Lior | Kenneth Brander

Rabbi Kenneth Brander responds to Rabbi Dov Lior's halakhic ruling permitting Jews to harvest olives from Arab-owned groves in Judea and Samaria. Brander argues the ruling contradicts Torah values, citing authorities from Ramban to Rav Herzog, and warns it distorts the legacy of Avraham Avinu.

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, writing in The Times of Israel's blogs, responds to a halakhic ruling by Rabbi Dov Lior that permits Jews to harvest olives from Arab-owned groves in Judea and Samaria. Brander argues that the ruling contradicts the Torah's values and the legacy of Avraham Avinu, the central figure of this week's parsha. He cites a range of halakhic authorities, including the Ramban, Tosafot, the Meiri, Rav Kook, and Rav Herzog, to argue that non-Jewish residents retain property rights and that theft from non-Jews is a severe prohibition that brings chillul Hashem. Brander connects the dispute to the haftarah reading for Parshat Lech Lecha, which speaks of Avraham as the 'one from the east' called to spread justice. He warns that Rabbi Lior's reasoning distorts the Torah and misleads the youth, and calls for teaching the next generation that respecting neighbors' property is integral to living in the land according to the Torah.