Restoring Dignity Begins with Looking for Lost ‘Objects’
Did you ever notice a watch on a hiking trail or see a jacket on a chair at the theater? Did you keep on walking and ignore it? The Torah addressed these scenarios in a direct way by instructing us to pay attention and stop what we’re doing – even if we are going out to war—and do our best to return the object but do not remain blind to them.
If you see someone’s ox or sheep straying, don’t ignore it; return it. But if he isn’t near you or if you don’t know him, bring it to your house and keep it until the owner seeks it out, whereupon you shall return it to him…and you will do the same with any lost article you have found. Don’t hide yourself from it by ignoring it (literally: do not remain blind to them.) (Deut. 22:1-3)
When we’re shopping or walking outside and see a lost object, we are told to pick it up and do your best to find the owner—but don’t ignore it. While the necessity to return a lost object and track down the owner seems difficult enough, it is obvious from the Torah’s description that that is only part of the obligation, but in addition to being responsible to RETURN an object, you are also responsible to FIND it.
Many people will return a lost object if the object finds them—i.e. if a neighbor’s football or Frisbee fell onto their property or if you find something belonging to a person who was recently a guest in your home. But more is expected of Jews. Wherever we are, when we pass something, we realize doesn’t belong there, we are required to respond, maybe even stop the car, get out, pick it up, and deal with it. It isn’t always easy or convenient—but it’s what we are meant to do.
It’s important to note that this section follows the section dealing with a soldier going to war; Ibn Ezra suggests that the juxtaposition implies that even when you are going to war, if you see a lost object, don’t ignore it.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 73a) teaches that we are meant to have concern for others, not just for their property. We are not only obligated to make them whole by returning their objects, but are also asked to help a person if they are in medical, emotional or personal distress of any kind.
The focus of this section is to notice the problem, not just fix it. When we are out jogging, shopping, biking, or hiking, even if we are dealing with our own difficulties—“wars”—we must be scanning our environment and the people around us for problems that might exist and how we can assist. We can’t remain blind to them by pretending that we didn’t see the plight of another. Instead, just as we must return their item to them, we must do our best to restore them to where they need to be.
Many of the things we have taken for granted have been upended in the past 11 months. The security in Israel. Our safety from antisemitism in the US. Still, our focus continues to be on helping our brothers and sisters in Israel, the families of hostages, of soldiers injured or worse and the tens of thousands of families still displaced. Even though we are literally at war, focused on the outgrowths and outcomes of the war, we must also make sure to keep our eyes open locally in our communities. Have we had the ability to scan people who may need financial assistance or words of encouragement? Are there people in your orbit who have lost something you might be able to return?
A man I know has lost much of his ability to be independent; he needs people to transport him and attend to his needs. Although we can’t give him back his mobility, we can notice the loss and help him to retain his dignity by attending to him and calling him to keep up his spirits. Although the Jewish people are in tough times, we can’t hide from people’s lost objects, their needs, their pain.
Our Parsha enjoins us to remember that while returning a lost object might be part of the mitzvah, perhaps the greater focus should be on finding it in the first place.
Good Shabbos