The Mitzvah of Returning Lost Items - Then and Now

The Torah states (Deuteronomy 22:1-3): "You shall not see your brother's ox or sheep straying and hide yourself from them; you shall surely return them to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then 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's which he has lost and you have found; you may not hide yourself."

These verses deal with the mitzvah of returning lost items, and are categorized into a positive commandment from the Torah and a negative commandment from the Torah, as Rambam wrote:

Positive commandment: "The commandment that we are commanded to return lost items to their owners, as it says: 'You shall surely return it to him,' 'you shall surely return them to your brother.'"[1]

Negative commandment: "The warning that we are warned not to ignore a lost item, but to take it and return it to its owner, as He exalted says: 'You may not hide yourself.'"[2]

The author of Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 538) addressed the reason for this commandment, writing that "there is benefit for all in this and settlement of the state, for forgetfulness is common to all, and animals and all creatures constantly run here and there, and with this commandment that is among our people, animals and vessels will be safeguarded wherever they may be in our holy land, as if they were under the owners' hand, and all the precepts of Hashem are upright, rejoicing the heart (Psalms 19:9)."

In the words of our Sages, several incidents were brought that teach us how meticulous our Rabbis were about the mitzvah of returning lost items:

There was an incident where a person passed by the entrance of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's house and left chickens there. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's wife found them, and he told her: "Do not eat from their eggs." The eggs and chickens multiplied and were troubling them, so he sold them and bought goats with the money. Once, the person who had lost the chickens passed by and said to his friend: "I left my chickens here." Rabbi Chanina heard this and asked him: "Do you have identifying marks for them?" He said: "Yes." He gave the identifying marks and took the goats.[3]

There was an incident with a certain sage, whose name was Rabbi Shmuel bar Susartei, who went to Rome. At that time, the queen lost a precious ornament of hers, and Rabbi Shmuel found it. The queen issued a proclamation in the country that whoever found the lost item and returned it within thirty days would receive a sum of money from the queen, but if they returned it after thirty days, their head would be cut off. Rabbi Shmuel waited and only returned the ornament to her after thirty days. The queen said to him, "Were you not in the country and did you not hear the proclamation I made that whoever returns the lost item after thirty days will forfeit his head to the queen?" He said to her, "I was in the country and I heard the proclamation." She said to him, "Then why didn't you return the ornament to me within thirty days?" He said to her, "So that you would not say that I returned the lost item out of fear of the proclamation, but because Hashem commanded us to do so." The queen was amazed at his words and said: "Blessed is the God of Israel." The reason the queen decreed that if one returns after thirty days their head would be cut off, was to ensure that the finder would not keep the lost item for themselves, thinking: "I'll take the lost item for myself, and if it becomes known, I'll return it after thirty days." That's why she set a time limit. But Rabbi Shmuel wanted to sanctify Heaven's name, so he returned it after thirty days.[4]

There was an incident with Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach who bought a donkey from an Ishmaelite. His students went and found a precious stone hanging around its neck. They said to him, "Rabbi, (Proverbs 10:22): 'The blessing of Hashem makes one rich.'" Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach said to them: "I bought a donkey; I did not buy a precious stone." He went and returned it to that Ishmaelite, and that Ishmaelite proclaimed about him: "Blessed is Hashem, the God of Shimon ben Shetach."[5]

In the Talmud, it is stated that during the Second Temple period, when a person found a lost item and did not know who the owner was, they would go to Jerusalem:[6] "There was a 'stone of claims' in Jerusalem. Anyone who lost an item would go there. One would stand and announce, and the other would stand and provide identifying marks and take it."

Rabbi Aharon Zakkai ruled how to handle lost items in our time: If someone finds a lost item and does not recognize its owner, then "in a place where it is customary for anyone who finds a lost item to bring it to the police, and the person who lost one of their possessions turns there, one should deliver the lost item to the police so that they can return it to its owner against identifying marks."[7]

[1] Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 204, edition of Rabbi Yosef Kapach.

[2] Ibid., Negative Commandment 269.

[3] Taanit 25a.

[4] Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Bava Metzia, Chapter 2, Halacha 5. Also brought in Yalkut Me'am Lo'ez, Book of Deuteronomy (Volume 3), p. 825.

[5] Midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah, Parshat Ekev.

[6] Bava Metzia 28b.

[7] Rabbi Aharon Zakkai, The Jewish Home, section "Justice and Law," Lost and Found, Chapter 12, Halacha 2.