The Rapture, Looting, Halacha and Facebook: OY, the fun!

Ok, so the predicted rapture and end of the world did not materialize as predicted last Saturday (although the predictor has revised his forecast to Oct. 21st).  However, the whole shpiel produced some funny dialogue about how Jews should behave following the rapture.  The dialogue took place on Facebook but was reproduced on Zeek, where I found this:

The predicted rapture led some Facebook users to create a post-rapture looting event to capitalize on the sudden disappearance of thousands of the faithful. At the present time, about a half a million people are attending. One yeshiva student, however, observed that since the Rapture is scheduled for Shabbat, post-rapture looting may present a halachic problem. As a service to our readers, we are reprinting her original Facebook post and most of the comments that followed.

Gella Solomon: To all who plan to attend the post rapture looting on the 21st, I must remind you that it will be Saturday and hence acquisition of property by Jews will be forbidden until sundown. In short NO LOOTING ON SHABBOS!

SK: Is it against shabbos if it’s for free?

GS: Yes.

SK: Guess I’ll have to get Sunday’s left-overs…

LC: i think it’s after shabbas, technically

GS: It says on the event 12pm

SK: Also, “Al Tignov” - we technically shouldn’t be looting anyway, but we’re gonna do it because “God isn’t looking” according to the event. If the commandment not to steal is being waived, can’t we also waive shabbos?

NA: How are we stealing? They aren’t coming back. It is ownerless.

JM: Mamish hefker.

GS: waived… and no, because it’s not stealing if the owners have been raptured, since there is certainly ye’ush on their part if they’ve been taken up, it is hefker. But I believe you cannot acquire hefker property on shabbat either. Besides which, most of the stuff you’d probably want to loot will be muktze.

ES: only 3% of the world’s population is going missing– and they are likely the poor and the meek–so I’m not sure the looting is even going to be worth it. : /

PS: Wouldn’t the existence of the rapture pretty much void the entire covenant?

GS: Shouldn’t the destruction of the Temple have voided the covenant by similar logic? We don’t give up that easily.

PS: The destruction of the temple didn’t establish a different and incompatible belief system’s deity as existent, though.

GS: It kinda did though, for the theological paradigm of the era. Fortunately, Judaism was innovative enough to adapt to the idea of a portable God that doesn’t go away when a people is defeated and driven from their land. It did call the people’s continued covenant with that God into question though…

PS: A good point regarding the massive paradigm shift needed there. But wait. Doesn’t the period of adaptation amount to a renegotiating of the covenant? In which case, while things are up in the air… Free stuff!

RW: can’t I pick things up if there’s an eruv?

AG: I believe that you can borrow them for the duration of Shabbat (assuming eruv, no muktze, and the stuff is hefker) and then acquire them afterwards. But I could be wrong about that.


IH: Can I sell my looting rights to a non Jew and then buy it back after shabbos? (j/k)

Gella Solomon: @PS: a good question, with potentially deep ramifications for how we relate to the place of human agency in the covenantal relationship with God and the idea of chosenness. Meanwhile, you’re not Jewish so you can do whatever the hell you want. @RS, the issue isn't carrying, so no. @AG... in order to borrow, doesn't there need to be someone from whom to borrow? @IH... potentially a good solution, but what would be the non-Jew's motivation to loot for you? If you're just buying the stuff from her or him afterward then it kind of defeats the point of getting in on the looting.

LG: while it doesn’t address the issue of mukze, an eruv might be useful with “acquiring”

GS: because it is a hefker object in a private domain?

JR: Technically, it’s not hitting until 6 PM in your local tme zone. Yup, the ones who believe this are actually saying that this will hit New Zealand first at 6 PM locally there, and make its way across the globe hitting every time zone every hour. So, my point is, if you can’t loot on Shabbos, just wait a couple of hours.

IA: What if we just put the looted goods aside, and then make a formal declaration of acquisition after sunset?

JG: Items left out where they might pose a danger to the public (say, a motorcycle whose rider was assumed into Heaven mid-ride) may be moved out of the way.

GN: I think the Rapture is at 9 PM EDT, so it’s not Shabbos anymore, at least not on the east coast at New York’s latitude. That’s a lot of conditions.

This ain't no picnic

You guys don’t miss a beat. First, of all I’m sorry that I went off line from this blog for so long. I really didn’t know you cared – or at least I didn’t know you were reading. In three unrelated conversations this past week, people mentioned that they check here frequently and like to see the perspective offered. None of those people said a thing about the lack of new entries for several months but… Oy, the guilt. So, thank you Jonathan, Nadine, Guy and the rest of you.


Second of all, who knew how many people would ask why we are not having the “traditional,” end-of-year religious school picnic?! Of course you know that I’ve not been at Sinai for any of the previous picnics so I can’t say what those were like. You should also know that this was not my decision – which is not to say that I don’t support it because I do. But I am still surprised to hear how much influence and power people expect me to have over every thing that happens at Sinai. I suppose I do have significant authority and influence, but our congregation is large with an outstanding team of professional and volunteer lay leaders. In other words: Jill Stepak, her staff and her committee members make the decisions and run the school program with my full support. And I think that they have put together a great event to close our school year and celebrate the cycle of learning. Jill notes that this day is meant to, “Demonstrate the learning of our students in a fun and interactive way and to celebrate the year with our students, their families and our teachers all together.”

Sure, this ain’t no picnic but I think it’ll be even better. The Museum of Limmud features each class and each student’s work, Teacher Appreciation speaks for itself (right?), Kesher Café keeps us fed, and the Chana Rothman concert will be just plain fun. But if this doesn't stack up to previous year's picnics let me know. Check Chana out here: