Parashat Vayetze – Stealing an object from someone in order to prevent him from a prohibition

A guten Shabbos!

Is it permitted to steal from a person an object that causes him to transgress a prohibition?

And why did Rachel steal the terafim from Lavan?

 
Clarification of the question: A person is in possession of an object that causes him to transgress prohibitions. Is it permitted for another person to steal that object from him in order to prevent him from committing the transgression?
Answer:
In the parasha it is stated (Bereishit 31:19): "And Rachel stole the terafim that belonged to her father." Rashi explains that her intention was to separate her father from idol worship.
From Rashi’s words it is apparent that one is allowed to steal from another an object that causes him to transgress a sin. And even though Lavan was not Jewish, idol worship is forbidden to him as well, since a non-Jew is also forbidden to worship idols.
The difficulty is: what is the halachic basis to steal another’s property in order to prevent him from idol worship?

 Several explanations have been given for this:

a. In the sefer Shvut Yaakov (Responsa, part III, siman 38) it is written that since there is a mitzvah to eradicate idol worship from the world, it has no monetary value, and therefore there is no prohibition of theft regarding it. 

b. The Avnei Nezer (Responsa, Yoreh De’ah, siman 121, section 4) explains that there is no prohibition of theft in a matter that is ultimately beneficial to the one from whom it is taken. Since it was good for Lavan not to have terafim so that he would not transgress a prohibition, there was no prohibition of theft here. 
The difference between these two answers is very great and has ramifications for many other cases. According to the first reason, there is no general permission to steal in order to prevent another from a transgression, but only with regard to something that there is a mitzvah to eradicate from the world. According to the second reason, however, any object that leads to a transgression may be stolen in order to save the other person from sinning. 

However, according to both explanations there is a difficulty: Rachel acted in accordance with the law, so why was she punished for stealing the terafim? As Yaakov said (Bereishit 31:32): "With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live." Rashi explains that as a result of this curse Rachel died on the way. 

On this question an interesting answer is brought in the sefer Avnei Zikaron (p. 335) in the name of HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Nissim Karelitz zatzal. Namely, although the theft itself was permitted, since Yaakov Avinu was near Rachel, she should not have taken such an action without consulting him first. 

In this context, the sefer Otzar HaYahadut (vol. I) cites an instructive story told by HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Shurkin zatzal, a disciple of Maran the Chafetz Chaim:
When the heretical Haskalah movement spread, the maskilim in Radin, the town of the Chafetz Chaim, established a cultural club. There they set up a performance hall where they staged plays of mockery and ridicule against Torah scholars and those who observed the mitzvot. At that time, the daughter of the local blacksmith fell gravely ill, and the doctors despaired of her life. In his distress, the blacksmith turned to the Chafetz Chaim and pleaded tearfully: "Rebbe, save my child!" The Chafetz Chaim answered him: "If you desire that your daughter live, go and destroy the club of heresy, and I guarantee your daughter a complete recovery." The blacksmith hurried home, took two huge hammers, went to the club, which had been built like the houses of the town from wooden beams, raised the heavy hammers and began to smash and demolish the building. 
Before long the young members of the club gathered around him and protested loudly with threats and curses. But the blacksmith turned to them like a bereaved bear and shouted: "Whoever comes near, I will throw this heavy hammer at him!" The frivolous youths retreated in fear, and he continued his work of destruction, smashing and breaking walls and partitions, beams and roof, doors and windows, benches and tables, turning the building into splinters of wood. The club of heresy was destroyed and was never rebuilt. 
After some time, the irreligious youths organized to establish a library to which books of heresy and books mocking everything holy would be brought, in order to incite and lead astray the readers from the Jewish way of life. 
The yeshiva students, who had heard their teacher the Chafetz Chaim’s directive regarding the club, gathered—without consulting their rabbi—sneaked in during the dead of night and set fire to the library along with all the heretical and blasphemous books. This time, however, the freethinkers fought back fiercely, summoned the police, raised a loud public outcry, and conducted a campaign of propaganda against the "black-clad sects" acting against the lovers of progress. They organized a fundraising drive for rebuilding the burned library, and in a short time they built a library even larger and more elaborate than the first. 
"Then I understood," concluded Rabbi Shurkin, "that even holy zeal will not succeed if it is not carried out under the guidance of the rabbi."