Restoration and Rejuvenation
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Ki Teitzei contains the mitzvah of hashovat aveidah/returning a lost object to its owner. While many people post notices of a lost item in hopes of retrieving it, people posting notices of found objects are in the process of fulfilling this mitzvah. The Torah says: “You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep or goat cast off, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely return them to your brother. If your brother is not near to you and you do not know him, then gather it inside your house… until your brother inquires after it, and you return it to him. So shall you do for his donkey… for his garment… and for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him and you find it; you shall not hide yourself.” For a volume which is known to be extremely economical in its language, such seeming redundancy begs explanation. Besides such specific itemization, your brother is written five times and, “You shall not hide yourself,” is included at the beginning of the passage and repeated at the end.
On the simplest level, Rabbi Munk quoting Chazal, explains that the Torah’s repetition is meant to drill the concept into us, that whenever we find a lost object, even if our neighbor is scatter brained and constantly loses the same item, we are obligated to return it to him each time. Further, as Rabbi Weissblum notes, we are meant to treat money and property with respect, whether it is ours or someone else’s. Even if your “brother” is not close to you, geographically or socially, still respect his property. Your obligation extends to taking care of the property, taking it into your house and caring for it according to its specific requirements. You may not ignore it.
Rabbi Salamon points to the constant repetition of your brother as teaching us that brotherhood is achieved not only by blood but also by similar emotions and goals. Therefore, the Torah emphasizes that we should care for the other and his possessions as if he were in fact our brother. We should consider it an obligation that we cannot ignore rather than a choice. Further, Rabbi Goldstein in Shaarei Chaim adds another layer to our obligation. If we see a random object, we may not assume its owner will return to retrieve it. We must inquire and follow through.
If we go to such lengths for material objects, tells us Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz, certainly that will hold true if we see someone has “lost his way.” In that situation, we must do everything in our power to help him find his way to return to the path of Torah. We must take him into our home, befriend him, and take care of his emotional and spiritual needs.
Rabbi Frand expands on this idea, citing the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh. The ox, the sheep, and the goat are not necessarily only animals, but figuratively those people who are no more knowledgeable of Torah than these animals. He is also your brother. Do not turn a blind eye toward him. Take him into your home and return him to our Father Who, like any parent searching for a lost child, is in pain for each of His lost children, especially those lost to assimilation. Gather them into your home, perhaps for a Shabbos meal, teach some some Torah, and eventually Hashem will gather them up. Rabbi Frand adds that the Talmud states that if a person teaches the son of a Torah-ignorant person Torah, Hashem grants him the ability to nullify all painful decrees.
Rebbetzin Smiles quotes R. Noach Weinberg, who compares the saving of these spiritual souls to the saving of physical souls on the train to Auschwitz. How much effort would we expend to pull even one individual off that train and save him from certain death? Should we not expend similar effort to save our fellow Jew from spiritual death and return him to his Father?
In Sefer Vayikra the “Torah discusses the bringing of offerings to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It begins by writing, “Adam ki yakriv mikem… When a man among you brings an offering [brings closeness] to Hashem…” Rabbi Scheinerman in Ohel Moshe cites the Ohr Hachaim in a homiletic interpretation of this phrase.. If you will bring mikem/from you [your brother] closer to Hashem…, that person is protected from sin. If returning something of minimal value to your brother is such a big mitzvah, how much more so is returning his soul to him? The greatest good we can do for our brother is to return him to Hashem. You accrue credit for all his mitzvoth and accomplishments.
Rav Scheinerman relates that the Dubno Maggid adopted a young boy in his town whose father had suddenly died, raising the child as his own and teaching him Torah. When the Dubno Maggid’s soul rose to heaven, the angels showed him fifty sefarim/Torah books that he had authored. Surprised, the Dubno Maggid replied that he had not written them and was unaware of them. However, indeed he had merited them, for they were composed by none other than Rav Shlomo Kluger, the young, orphaned boy he had raised and who grew up to become a gadol hador.
Indeed, teaching others to love Hashem is incorporated in the constant mitzvah of loving Hashem, and by returning others to Hashem, one is fulfilling both this mitzvah and the mitzvah of hashovat aveidah.
The Imrei Chemed, ties this mitzvah to the laws of freeing a Canaanite slave. If the master injures his Canaanite slave in his eye or in his tooth, the slave goes free.
Teeth represent appetite, whether for food, speech, theft – improper social behaviors. Eyes represent looking at improper things. A third category of other limbs refers to other passions. If one breaks the lure of these “Canaanite” desires from the chains of the yetzer horo, one frees himself to return to Hashem and serve Him properly. To tie this idea into the discussion of hashovat aveidah, the Imrei Chemed quotes from Bilaam’s curse/blessings of Bnei Yisroel: “Ki meirosh tzurim erenu umigvaot ashurenu/For from its origins I see it rock-like, and from hills do I see it.” Our verses begin with the lost shor/ox, a cognate of the root Bilaam uses for seeing. When a person sees his friend deviating from the proper path, he himself may not avert his eyes; he must step in and help his friend return. He must do the same with a seh/sheep who grazes all day, satisfying his appetite, and with the chamor/donkey who is overly occupied with the chomer/materialism of the world, or even with his dress code. Strengthen your friend when he is just beginning to slip over small details and bring him back. Certainly, do this with your friends, and if you have do not have a relationship with that particular person, if he is far from you, build a relationship, bring him into your home.
Don’t pretend you don’t see, for Hashem knows, and don’t walk away thinking you can do nothing, writes Rabbi Pincus. Don’t ignore your friend’s pain, even if you can do nothing substantial, for Hashem sees everything.
Hashem’s pain at the loss of His children is even greater. Hashem, like a human who has lost an important object (lehavdil), searches for His lost children. He does not give up hope of finding them, writes Rav Asher Weiss. Like a lost object that has identifying signs, Jews also have identifying signs, circumcision, tefillin and Shabbos. Even more important, if a man loses something on his own property, he always retains the hope that he will find it someday. Since all the world belongs to Hashem, Hashem never loses hope in finding us again. Like a lost sheep which keeps bleating until it is found, we too can cry out for Hashem to find us, especially during the Month of Elul. If we take the smallest step and cry toward Him in teshuvah, He will bridge the gap and return to us.
A man also searches metaphorically for his lost rib, writes Rabbi Sorotskin in Meged Yosef, a proper wife. When he finds her and they marry, we wish the young couple siman tov umazal tov/a good sign and good mazal, we assure him that he has found a clear sign that identifies the bride as his missing half, just as an ID card in a wallet would clearly identify its owner more than would a nondescript rubber band around a roll of bills.
We have now seen that we can lose our relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu and we must try to return to each other, and we can see how we can lose our relationship with our fellow human beings, as most clearly illustrated by a man and woman finding each other. But man can also lose himself. Each of us has been gifted with body parts meant to elevate ourselves, from a mouth to speak words of Torah to limbs to perform mitzvoth. We each have unique spiritual and emotional aspects. Yet, during the week, we often lose these aspects of self as we busy ourselves with the concerns of daily physical living. When Shabbat arrives and infuses us with the additional spirituality of an “additional soul,” we are reminded of the spirituality we have lost all week, the opportunities we wasted to elevate ourselves, and we seek to find and regain them, writes Rabbi Schorr in Halekach Vehalebuv.
Searching for and retrieving the lost aspects of our soul is even more relevant in the Month of Elul, continues Rabbi Schorr. Just as one is required to publicly announce that an object has been found so that the owner may retrieve it, so do we announce the loss of our spirituality and our relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu through our sins. We publicly announce this by blowing the shofar the entire month, calling to us to awaken and find our way back. Reclaim the parts of self and repair the relationship, for as much as our souls yearn for Hashem’s Presence, Hashem Himself is searching and waiting for the return of His children.