1. Life and Health of our Fellow-man.—Life is a precious treasure which the Almighty has given us; if it is once taken from us, no man is able to restore it. Among the first lessons revealed to man in Scripture is the value of the life of a human being, created by God in His own likeness, and when the first murder had been committed, God said to the murderer, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood is heard that crieth unto me from the ground” (Gen, iv. 10). The first commandment in the second section of the Decalogue is directed against this crime: “Thou shalt not murder.” The significance of these words, the general lessons implied in this commandment, and the extent to which a person, though not an actual murderer, may become guilty of having broken this commandment, have already been explained in the chapter on the Ten Commandments (p. 261). It has been shown how the sixth commandment forbade— (1.) The taking of the life of a fellow-man by violent means. (2.) The doing of anything by which the health, the peace, and the well-being of our fellow-man is undermined. (3.) The omission of any act in our power to save our fellow-man from direct or indirect danger of life. 2. The Property of our Neighbour.—The eighth commandment in its wider sense comprehends all our relations to our neighbour’s property. It prohibits, as has been shown above (p. 263), the appropriation of anything that belongs to our neighbour— (1.) By theft and robbery, or (2.) By any kind of fraud and dishonesty. Our Sages teach: “Let the property of thy fellow-man be as dear to thee as thine own” (Aboth ii. 12); i.e., you do not like to see your own property damaged, diminished, or destroyed; so it would be wrong if you were to cause loss and ruin to your fellow-man, whether you did it directly or indirectly. [37] Let every one enjoy the labour of his hands; partake of the gifts of the earth and the Divine blessings as much as his physical and mental powers enable him to do in a righteous manner. It is not only direct illegal appropriation of our neighbour’s goods that is condemned as theft or robbery; it is equally wicked to buy things which one knows to have been stolen by others. [38] He who does it is worse than the thief; for, whilst the latter injures only the person whom he robs, the former encourages and corrupts the thief, hardens his heart, helps to silence the voice of his conscience, and thus obstructs the way to repentance and improvement.