The Importance of Returning Lost Items (Shev 42)

A quick thought of Talmud for the day.

Imagine that you find a wallet. If you can find the owner, would you return it?

Most would. 

Now what if I told you that the wallet you found has $50, but once had $100. Before you found it someone had taken half of the money. Would you still return it?

What if I told you that the owner of the wallet would berate you for taking the $50 and would continue to believe that you stole the money. I'm not sure if anyone has done this particular study on this scenario but I imagine the number of honest citizens would be much lower than our original wallet scenario.

During the rabbinic era, this wallet conundrum was posed, but to make matters more complicated the rabbis had to deal with a ruling that stated that if someone accuses someone of something and they admit to part of the claim, they must swear (using God's name) that they do not owe the other part (the oath is called a shevua modeh b'mikzat). In practical terms, if I return the wallet with $50 and am told that the original amount in the wallet was $100, I have to swear that I didn't take the other $50.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, swearing is serious. In fact, we find on pg 39 of our tractate that the whole world quaked when God commanded that we should not make vain / false oaths (the wording depends on whether one is reading the Ten Commandments in Exodus or Deuteronomy). So if one knows that they might have to swear about the amount in a wallet, they might not return it in the first place.

Knowing this, the rabbis made a special exemption for the shevua modeh b'mikzat: if you are returning a lost item, no one can force you to swear that you did not take a part of it. The reason is simple. Returning lost articles is of the upmost importance and nothing should stand in it's way.

Remember that next time you find a wallet on the street.