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How Hebrew Captures the Many Meanings of Theft

JL;DR SUMMARY Joseph Lowin explores the multifaceted concept of theft in Hebrew, examining different words that capture various nuances of stealing, such as 'ganav' for stealthy theft and 'gazlan' for forceful theft. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

TalmudJewish EthicsHebrew LanguageCultural ReferencesRabbinic LawTheftGazlanHebrew LinguisticsGanavBible Interpretations

Places mentioned

Israel
"In Israel today, this term has been bequeathed without rancor to street cart vendors."

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Cairo Item ID 82507
Cairo Source ID 44
Retrieved 2026-05-19 05:30:53 UTC
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