Jewish Concept: The Mitzvah of Returning Lost Items

What. Returning lost items is a positive commandment between individuals that requires returning lost property to its owner. A person is obligated to fulfill this mitzvah as long as the lost item is in their possession, even if the owner has given up hope of finding it (after it was found), and as long as one refuses to return the item, they are neglecting a positive commandment. Additionally, there is a negative commandment that prohibits the finder from ignoring the lost item they found, and even one who took the lost item without intending to return it to its owner has violated this prohibition.

Why. The source of this commandment from the Torah is in the verses from the Book of Deuteronomy: "You shall not see your brother's ox or sheep straying and ignore them; you shall return them to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or you do not know him, you shall bring it into your house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it, and you shall return it to him. And so shall you do with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment, and so shall you do with any lost item of your brother which he has lost and you have found; you may not ignore it" (Deuteronomy 22:1-3).

In the days when the Temple existed, the children of Israel would make pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times a year (on Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot), and on these three occasions, announcements about lost items would be made at a special place in Jerusalem called "Even HaToen" (the Claim Stone), and anyone who found a lost item would go there.

After the destruction of the Temple, the Sages established that the finder of a lost item should announce it in synagogues and study halls. It was also determined that in places where it was customary to confiscate lost items for the royal treasury, it would be sufficient to notify neighbors and friends.

The owner of the lost item must provide identifying marks of the item to prove that it belongs to them. Someone known to be dishonest will not receive the lost item even if they provide identifying marks, until they bring witnesses to testify that the item is theirs. For a Torah scholar, who is considered an honest and trustworthy person, the lost item is returned if they identify it as their own by recognition (by sight), even without providing identifying marks.

According to Jewish law, the finder is required to care for the lost item to prevent it from losing its value, and sometimes they must even use the item to prevent it from deteriorating from lack of use. When caring for the lost item requires financial expense, the finder is entitled to recover the expenses incurred due to the lost item. Therefore, the Sages permitted selling the lost item in cases where it causes excessive expenses, making the handling of its return financially impractical for the loser.

Something interesting to conclude. There are times when there is no obligation to return the lost item. For example:

• When it is clear that the owner gave up hope of finding the item before it was found. A banknote found on the street, for instance, does not need to be returned (but a bundle of banknotes, which can be identified by how it was packaged, must be returned).
• The lost item is worth less than a perutah (smallest coin).
• The owner is not Jewish.
• If the finder is a respected person who does not typically carry an item of the type found - they are not obligated to return the lost item.
• If the finder cannot reach the lost item for a halachic reason (such as when the finder is a Cohen and the lost item is in a cemetery), they are exempt from returning it.
• If the lost item is considered "lost to him and to everyone else," meaning there is no reasonable way it can be saved, and the owners have certainly given up hope of finding it.
• If returning the lost item would take so much of the finder's time that they would lose more money than the value of the lost item itself.
• A person who was engaged in another mitzvah when they saw the lost item is not obligated to return it, based on the principle that "one who is engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from another mitzvah."