For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 95
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Our rabbis' discussions about damages for stolen items in different circumstances. We begin with a reminder about what to do when a stolen item should be given back but is not available - it has been 'used up', it has become part of another structure that cannot be unbuilt, or it is gone. In such cases the thief pays for the cost of the item's value when it was stolen.
If an item has been 'enhanced' - a cow has had a calf or a sheep's wool has been dyed and used - both the stolen item and the enhancement are returned to the owner. Rabbi Yehuda adds that the thief pays additional monies in the amount of the enhancement between the time of stealing and the time of the original's return.
We continue to struggle with how a thief might be “rewarded” and in what circumstances then discuss the historicity of the Temple money changers “שולחני” in Rabbinics and New Testament versions.