The donut store was full of people; they were having a massive sale, with all donuts half price. Avraham came into the store; he was young, and when no one noticed, he stole a box of doughnuts for his family's Chanukah party that night.
A few months later, Avraham heard an inspiring speech about being an honest, good Jew and realized what he did was wrong and felt bad for stealing those delicious doughnuts. The next day, he went back to the store and, feeling embarrassed, told the owner that he had stolen a box of doughnuts and wanted to pay for them.
The owner said, "You owe me full price for those doughnuts."
"What? You were selling it for half price," Avraham said.
"Yes, half price if for customers but not for thieves like you. For thieves, it's full price." the owner said. For thieves, it’s full price.
1) Item on sale doesn’t mean that this is the true worth of this item.
The owner usually makes a sale to get people to buy items. But a sale is meant for customers, not for thieves. So if someone steals, he would need to pay the regular price. So it would seem he should pay full price in our case.
2) But our case is different.
That day, the donuts were on sale at half price. The next day, they would be old and worth nothing. So when Avraham stole, he only caused the bakery a loss of half price. Because of that, he only needs to pay half price. (This is only true for food that goes bad quickly. If he stole something that lasts, like furniture, the halacha would be different; he would have to pay the full price.)
Pay For The Donuts!
