[Avodah] some halachot of moser

[Zev Sero]

Eli Turkel wrote:
>   R Broyde has an article on the
> subject in Journal of Contemporary Society 43
> 
> In it his brings that the Tzitz Eliezer allows reporting crimes to
> western society governments based on the Arukh HaShulchan that todays
> governments do not kill criminals as bandits used to in the old days.

1. This makes no sense, since its premise - that the law of moser has
something to do with the government killing the victim - is patently
false.  Hamoser *mamon* chavero is no less a mosser.

2. The Aruch Hashulchan absolutely cannot be relied on in this area;
his exaggerated flattery of contemporary government is transparently
designed to please the censor, and is so over the top precisely so
that the reader should understand that he doesn't mean it.  E.g. see
the title of the siman on hilchot gerut.   It's of a piece with the
siddurim that proclaimed "avinu malkenu en lanu melech *bashamayim*
ela ata"; everybody understood that the extra word was not to be said.



> R. Elyashiv concurs in a case of a robbery in the office of religious
> affairs. Informing the police will lead to an investigation which
> most likely will find one of the religious employees guilty.

And it may not.  Surely one is entitled to judge the religious employees
lechaf zechut, and assume them to be innocent and have nothing to fear.
Is there anyone who *would* call this mesirah?  Unless the fear is that
the police will pin it on an employee whether or not one is guilty, in
which case there is nobody who would permit it.


> R. Moshe Feinstein seems to allow informing the police only for
> violent crimes.

The Ramo permits the *victim* of a violent crime to masser his
assailant.  I'm not sure that other people are included in this heter.


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher