110, discuss the importance of a Jew's relationship with God by examining the oath that a person takes when they embrace Judaism. In it a questioned is posed; what should be punished more harshly, deliberately committing a crime or, withholding information about missing property (i.e. a crime, or alleged crime). The question is answered simply; a person withholding information about missing property should be punished more harshly. In this paper I will explain the reasoning behind this answer, prove this document to be a credible historic source and briefly explain how this affected the loyalty of most Jews to their religion in the face of medieval Christian persecution. Judaism has always been a religion of loyalty and this text uses loyalty to prove all these things.
" Indeed (certainly!) one is to deal with a deceiver more (severely) then with a wonton perpetrator." The rabbinical teachings cited in this text say that a Jew is under oath to the Torah and Jewish law above any and all other oaths in their lives. In this particular case Rabbenu Gershom states that all lost property must be announced and anybody that knows information about the lost property must come forward with it as a matter of the laws of the Jewish religion set forth in the Torah. One cannot argue that they promised to keep secret the whereabouts or happenings of the property at question. Ones "promise" to the Jewish religion supersede any and everything else. This being the case, if a person knowingly and purposefully withholds information they are directly and willingly defying God, the Torah, and Judaism and deserve the harshest penalties. .
As we learn from the readings on pages 340-342 in the Marcus book, Rabbi Solomon Bar Isaac better known as Rashi is probably the best known medieval Jewish Scholar. His students and descendents carefully followed his teachings for centuries. The R. Joseph Colon text referred to above can be considered a credible historic source because it references the teaching of Rashi.
