Today, let’s take a break from talking about kosher slaughter and focus on an ethical teaching.
We have already learned in Seder Nezikin that the rabbis care deeply about preventing and punishing theft. On today’s daf, the Talmud introduces us to another kind of prohibited theft, geneivat da’at, which literally translates to “theft of the mind.”
Rather than a literal Frankenstein situation, this term refers to something much more mundane and also more abstract: attempting to extract credit for a kindness that was never authentically meant. Let’s look at some examples:
It is taught in a beraita: Rabbi Meir would say: A person may not importune another to eat with him when he knows that the other will not eat with him. And one may not send another many gifts when he knows that the other will not accept them.
In these examples, no one is explicitly lying or stealing from anyone else. But the person issuing the invitation is insincere, as is the person sending unwanted gifts. Their actions are not meant to benefit the recipients, only themselves. The person who doesn’t accept the invitation is no worse off than he was before he got the false invitation. So you might think that this is harmless — but according to the rabbis, it is not.
Throughout our journey through Daf Yomi, we’ve seen the importance of giving credit where credit is due. Statements are often introduced in the name of a specific rabbi, who in turn names his source. As Pirkei Avot 6:6 states:
Everyone who says something in the name of him who said it (originally), brings deliverance into the world, as it is said: “And Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22).
The concept of geneivat da’at reminds us of the flip side of this importance: not giving or getting credit for that which we do not intend. We might think that sending an insincere invitation is a victimless crime, but it gives the invited person a false understanding of their social world. It means that they can’t understand who actually wants to spend time with them and who doesn’t. And while it may not be a literal lie, according to the Talmud, it is deeply unethical.
Interestingly, today’s daf goes out of its way to insist that this baseline of proper behavior applies not only to our interactions with Jews. In the following story, it also gives another example of what this might look like:
Shmuel said: It is prohibited to steal the mind of people, even a gentile.Shmuel was once crossing a river in a ferry. He said to his attendant:
Compensate the ferryman. The attendant compensated him, but Shmuel became angry. What is the reason that he became angry? Abaye said: The compensation given was a chicken that was a treifa, and he gave it to him as though it were a slaughtered, kosher chicken. Rava said: He told him to give him wine for drinking in an anpaka (a vessel generally used for undiluted wine), but he gave him diluted wine for drinking.
Anyone who’s been to a grocery store recently knows that kosher chicken is a lot more expensive than non-kosher chicken. According to Abaye, giving a non-kosher chicken as though it is a kosher chicken is unethical. It misleads the ferryman about the value of the compensation he’s received and, presumably, will limit the customer base he’ll have for the chicken if he chooses to sell it rather than eat it.
According to Rava, Shmuel’s attendant gave the ferryman diluted wine in a utensil that usually holds undiluted wine, misleading him about its contents, and — again — the quality of compensation he’s received.
The version of the story with the chicken implies that Shmuel’s attendant thought this deception was acceptable because the ferryman was not Jewish. Shmuel is angry at him for treating any human being that way — Jewish or otherwise.There are several important themes in this story: the awareness that those who work for us represent us to the public, the reliance of the rabbinic community on the services provided by skilled laborers like ferrymen, the importance of productive interactions between Jews and non-Jews and, most obviously, the importance of ethical, upright behavior in all our interactions.
Read all of Chullin 94 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 2, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world. With your help, My Jewish Learning can provide endless opportunities for learning, connection and discovery.
