DEUT1103 Non-therapeutic life–saving intervention is Talmudically mandated on independent grounds. The Talmud, Sanhedrin 73a, posits an obligation to rescue a neighbor from danger such as drowning or being mauled by an animal. This obligation is predicated upon the scriptural exhortation with regard to the restoration of lost property, "And thou shalt return it to him" [this verse]. On the basis of a pleonasm in the Hebrew text, the Talmud declares that this verse includes an obligation to restore a fellow-man's body as well as his property. Hence, there is created an obligation to come to the aid of one's fellow man in a life-threatening situation. Noteworthy is the fact that Maimonides (Commentary on the Mishnah, Nedarim 4:4; cf. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Nedarim 6:8), going beyond the example supplied by the Talmud, posits this source as the basis of the obligation to render medical care. Maimonides declares that the Biblical command and "and thou shalt return it to him" establishes an obligation requiring the physician to render professional services in life-threatening situations. Every individual, insofar as he is able, is obligated to restore the health of a fellow man no less than he is obligated to restore his property. Maimonides views this as a binding religious obligation.

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DEUT1104 If he named the lost object, but not its [Identifying] signs, it should not be returned to him. And if he is [known as] a deceiver, even if he does give its signs, it is not to be returned to him, it being written: "until you seek out your brother" -- until you seek out your brother to determine whether or not he is a deceiver (Bava Metzia 28b)

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DEUT1105 [lit. "until seek your brother"] - Now would it enter your mind to give it to him before he seeks it! How, then, is "until seek" to be understood? Seek him ["your brother"] out to determine whether or not he is deceiving you [in claiming the animal as his own]. And how [is he to be "sought out"]? By signs i.e., [by giving identifying signs, proving the animal is to be his] -- whence it is derived that [claiming a lost object by means of] signs is a Scriptural ordinance (Bava Metzia 28a)

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DEUT1106 [This] commandment obligates Jews to return any lost object, much more so than any other society. One cannot merely walk by a lost object and ignore it (See chapter "Returning Found Objects"). The Talmud (Bava Kamma 91a) states that this mitzvah is not limited to physical objects. If a person has lost his or her away on the road, this falls under the obligation of returning a lost object. A Jew is obligated to help the person find the way back. According to many opinions (Among others, Minchat Chinuch, Mitzvah #239), the obligation to return someone's Judaism also falls under this obligation. Since at one time everyone had the "proper" spirituality, people who no longer feel the importance of Judaism have "lost" this feeling of Judaism. Therefore, the return of Jewish spirituality to a Jew falls under the commandment to return any lost object to a Jew. Perhaps this is why the process of coming closer to Judaism is called teshuvah, returning, and one who returns is called a baal teshuvah.

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DEUT1107 It should be noted that in the idolatrous societies in which Jews lived during the time of the Bible and the Talmud, non-Jews were not required to return lost objects to Jews. Even so, the Talmud records the view of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair that "in a place where a desecration of God's name might result [which would probably be the case if the idolater knew that a Jew had found his possession] it is forbidden to keep a lost article" (Bava Kamma 113b). Such views influenced later codifiers of Jewish law. Although ruling that Jews should keep lost objects of idolaters, Maimonides also teaches that a Jew who returns a lost object so as to sanctify God's name is to be praised ("Laws of Robbery and Lost Objects" 11:3). For centuries after Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe Rivkes (seventeenth century), author of the previously cited Be'er HaGolah commentary on the Shulchan Arukh, taught that Rav's permission to keep a Gentile's lost object was no longer applicable: "Rav made this remark with reference to actual idolaters ... but not to non-Jews today who accept the Creator and whose moral code includes returning lost property" (see his commentary to Choshen Mishpat 266:1). In the early twentieth century, Rabbi Baruch Ha-Levi Epstein (1860 – 1941), author of the classic work Torah Temimah, wrote that since contemporary non-Jews observe the "Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah" (see page 405n), then," without any doubt the law [regarding how to act towards them in monetary and other matters of justice] is identical in all respects to that which applies to a Jew" (commentary on [this verse], note 22).

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DEUT1108 to include lost land [i.e., One is commanded to prevent damage to another's land if he is in a position to do so] (Bava Metzia 31a)

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DEUT1109 R. Yochanan said in the name of R. Shimon b. Yehotzadak: "which shall go to lost from him": what is "lost" to him, and "found" to you, you must publicize; but what is not "lost" to him and "found" to you, you need not publicize. This excludes [from the obligation to publicize] objects to whose loss the owner is resigned, such objects being "lost" both to him and vis-à-vis others [as objects identified within owner] (Yerushalmi Bava Metzia 1:1)

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DEUT1110 "You may not ignore it" [The verse discusses returning a lost object to its owner.] We have been admonished herein not to be lax in helping recover another person's money [or property], whether they are movable possessions or land, as our Sages, z"l, said (Bava Metzia 31a), "You shall do the same for any of your brother's lost articles' [this verse] -- this comes to include the loss of land." For example, if one sees his neighbor's land threatened by flooding, he must elect a barrier against it. We are also exhorted to attempt to rescue our fellowmen and to devise ways to help them in their time of need, as the pasuk states (Vayikra 19:16), "You must not stand by while your fellow man's blood is being shed." Shlomo said (Mishlei 24:10), "If you were faint on the day of trouble, your strength will be constricted." What this means is: if it is within your power to save someone through advice or effort, and you make it seem as if you have no ability or strength [to do so]--your strength will be constricted, measure for measure. Following this the pasuk says (ibid. 12), "Lest you say, 'Indeed, we did not know this!' The One who dwells within the hearts, He understands, and the Guardian of your soul, He knows, and He repays man according to his work." So we see that one who refrains from saving [another] and from devising ways of helping [him], Hashem regard this as [that person's] "work" [I.e. as if he has actively sinned.]

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DEUT1112 See [[LEV463]] Leviticus 19:16 basely AMJV 352

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DEUT1111 (Continued from [[LEV862]] Leviticus 20:26 apart LEHRMAN 66). Instructive is the Rabbinic interpretation of the concluding words lo tukhal lehitalaym -- "thou mayest not hide thyself" of [this verse]. In the Torah, the words lo tukhal refer both to physical, as well as to moral inability. A good example of the former is in Exodus xviii. 18: "Thou will surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone." The Hebrew reads: kee kaved mimecha hadavar, lo tukhal asehu levadecha. It is obvious from the context that not being able, in this instance, means sheer physical inability. On the other hand, the inability mentioned in [this verse], of not turning "a blind eye" to the stray ass or lost article of "thy brother", can only refer to moral inability. For physically it is possible to do so; moral compunctions, however, make this impossible. The word tukhal, though strictly unnecessary in this context, was inserted to emphasize the moral compunction and the religious imperative. "Thou art not (morally) able to hide thyself." Physically you can. To all outward appearances you can. But being an ethical command, you may not and must not hide yourself. (Continued at [[DEUT678]] Deuteronomy 14:21 eat LEHRMAN 67).

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