Returning Lost Objects: Difference between revisions

# There's an obligation to return the lost object of a Jew once one sees it within a distance of 266.67 [[amot]]. <ref> S"A 259:! Brings the negative commandment not to pick up a fellow Jew's lost object. S"A C"M 272:5 rules that there's a mitzvah of [[carrying]] and picking up a fellow's animal and its burden up to a distance of 266 and 2/3 [[amot]]. The Bach C"M 259 writes that since [[carrying]] a fellow's burden and picking up his lost object are learned from one another there's an obligation to pick up a lost object if one sees it up to an distance of 266.67 [[amot]]. </ref>

==Where was it found?==

# If the object was found in a safe protected place, it can be assumed that the item was placed there by its owner and so the object is not considered lost. If one by accident picked it up, one should return it right away, but if one has left the area one may not return it but rather one must return the object. For example, if one found a key under a mat or a book on top of a public telephone booth, one shouldn’t pick up the object. <Ref>Rama and S”A C”M 260:9-10, Mamon Yisrael (Halachos of Others People’s Money by Rav Pinchas Bodner, pg 145-6) </ref>

# If an item is found in a unsafe place, the item is considered a lost object. For example, a book on a public bus station bench. <Ref> Rama C”M 260:10, Mamon Yisrael (Halachos of Others People’s Money by Rav Pinchas Bodner, pg 146-7) </ref>