DEUT1088 In Western society, when people hear a story of a person who returns an object of great value, the common reaction is (1) great surprise, (2) a comment about the unusually high moral quality of this individual who returned the object, and (3) a belief that this person should receive some type of reward for acting "beyond the call of duty." Judaism has an entirely different approach and expected level of morality regarding returning lost objects. Unlike Western society, Judaism regards returning found objects as a mitzvah and not merely a good deed (See the chapter "Mitzvot-Commandments" for discussion on the difference between the two). What does this mean? In a Jewish society not only is it not unusual for an object to be returned, but it is the expected norm and is even demanded as a Torah obligation [this verse]. In many societies, there are laws requiring someone to return the found object once it is picked up--you cannot keep it. But no other society except Judaism says that the individual must pick up the lost object to begin with. Judaism says that a person cannot pass by the object and do nothing, and the Torah repeats this commandment for emphasis two verses later. Therefore, a Jew can't say that "it's not my problem" or "let someone else worry about it." A Jew must pick it up. Most people feel more of a moral obligation to pick up and return the lost object if they know the owner. Therefore, the Torah specifically says that even if you do not know the owner, you still must retrieve the lost object (Deuteronomy 22:2).

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DEUT1089 See [[LEV696]] Leviticus 19:18 love AMEMEI 240

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DEUT1087 "Who is honoured?" asked Ben Zoma (Abot iv. i.) It was a rhetorical question, for he himself knew the only true answer. "He who honors others; as it is said (I Sam. ii. 30): For I will honour them that honor Me, but those that despise Me shall be held in contempt'." The Talmud is emphatic that the honour of others should be a prime concern (Ber. 28b). One is absolved of a command of the Torah if its fulfillment be at the expense of one's own prestige. For though we are told ... [this verse]..., in the case of an old man, a scholar or a woman, the fulfillment of such a command, involving effort and loss of dignity, is not expected (B. Metz. 30a. Cf. Hoshen Mishpat 263. Ber. 43b). Far better than a man throw himself into a burning furnace then put his friend to shame. This opinion is expressed several times in the Talmud (B.M. 59a; Sot. 6a).

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DEUT1090 If he returned it [i.e., the animal], and it ran away; returned it, and it ran away -- even four or five times -- he must continue returning it, it being written: "return shall you return them," "return" connoting even a hundred times (Bava Metzia 30b)

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DEUT1091 It was taught: "return" -- this tells me only [to return it] to his house. Whence do I derive [that it may also be returned to] his guardian or his lot? From: "shall you return them" -- [wherever you wish]. and we are hereby taught that the owner need not be apprised [of its return] (Bava Metzia 31a]

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DEUT1092 Not only is it the downtrodden whose cause the Torah champions as part of its insistence on substantive justice but it is all members of society who must be treated justly. The Torah, therefore, includes lengthy lists of civil and criminal laws for society as a whole, (See, for example, Exodus 21-24 and Deuteronomy 20-25) and the later rabbis developed this area of Jewish law extensively, beginning with the Mishnah’s Order Nezikin. The Torah itself, and the Rabbis even more, appreciated the fact that justice, to become a reality in people's lives, could not be left as a pious hope but must rather be translated into concrete norms. By presenting specific cases, both the biblical and rabbinic traditions made the demands of justice clear and binding. It was not enough to require a person who finds a lost object, for example, to return it (as in Deuteronomy 22:1-3). What if not one, but several, people claim it? How shall you determine the real owner? What happens if you cannot? What should you do, on the other hand, if nobody comes forward to claim the object? Must you keep it? If so, for how long? To what extent must you go to publicize that you have it? If it requires care (for example, if it is an animal), must you spend your own money to provide that care? To what extent? May you use the object in the interim? Returning a lost object is a relatively simple demand of justice. But as these questions demonstrate, even a straightforward requirement such as that easily becomes complicated -- and the rabbis, in fact, devoted an entire chapter of the Mishnah and Talmud to this issue (chapter two of Bava Metzi’a) Without that discussion, the Torah’s imperative to return a lost object would remain imprecise and unworkable, demanding, in some understandings too much, and in others, too little to make this aspect of justice part of an ongoing practice within Jewish communal life.

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DEUT1093 "Do not go a single day without doing something for someone else, whether directly or by money or by speech." (motto from Rabbi Simcha Zissel's (student of Rabbi Israel Salanter) yeshivah). That this idea and guidance is a central principle of Jewish living is revealed in a fundamental difference between civil and Jewish law. Under common law a person who merely sees the lost property of another person is under no obligation to take possession of the object and to arrange its return. Jewish law, by contrast, says that one who sees lost property is fully obligated to involve himself in that property and to assist in its return. Three verses in the Torah [this and two subsequent verses] provide the basis for this obligation ... (Michael J. Broyde and Michael Hecht, "The Return of Lost Property According to Jewish and Common Law: A Comparison," in Jewish Law Articles, www.jlaw.com). Jewish law is based on an encompassing worldview that, in this case, reveals the responsibility we have to others. … Caring for the other is essential to our own spiritual lives. As the sage Hillel says in Pirkei Avot: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?" He questions: "If I am only for myself, what am I?" The answer is that I am ego, nothing more. Mussar sees connecting oneself to others as a great antidote to the selfishness that lies at the root of every negative soul-trait. Only by stretching to bear the burden of the other do I extend my being beyond ego and come to live in the realm of soul that is my potential and my highest destiny.

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DEUT1094 See [[LEV212]] Leviticus 18:5 live DORFFBOD 81-5

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DEUT1095 See [[LEV464]] Leviticus 19:16 basely AMJV 99

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DEUT1096 As important as this mitzvah is, and as strict as the Jewish laws are about returning lost objects, not all objects need to be returned. If the lost object is very common (such as a dollar bill) and has no specific identification marks and is found in a public area, then the finder may pick up the object and keep it immediately, as it is assumed that the owner, when realizing the object has been lost, will give up hope of ever retrieving the object due its unidentifiable nature. How does the finder ago about returning the object in Jewish law? Based on [this] verse "Until thy brother require it." The Midrash (Midrash, Mechilta Mishpatim 20) says this verse means that the finder of the object must publicly announce its finding. Thus, the finder must announce that he has found an object and wait for the owner to identify it with specific signs unique to that object, or by the specific amount, weight, number, or place lost (Maimonides, Hilchot Gezeilah Ve'aveidah 13:5). How does the finder specifically announce the object? ... Today, a person would announce by advertising the found object in the general area or neighborhood that the object was found. Of course, the cost of the advertisement would have to be repaid by the owner, once identified. How long would a finder have to keep announcing the found object before he would be allowed to "give up" and fulfill his obligation? ... After the destruction of the Temple, no set time limit was officially established, although sources list a thirty-day maximum for announcing (Tosefta, Bava Metzia 2:6). What happens if no one claims the object after it has been sufficiently announced or no one claiming to be the owner sufficiently identifies it as his or her own? In most societies today, the police will eventually let the finder keep the object if no one comes to claim it (even if not announced), usually after thirty days. In Judaism, a finder cannot ever take the object for himself or herself if it is identifiable and must leave it forever or until Elijah comes and returns it to the "rightful owner" (Maimonides, Hilchot Gezeilah Ve'aveidah 13:8).

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