SAN DIEGO — This week’s Parsahah, Ki Teitzei talks a lot about how people should treat each other. It describes marriage and divorce. It gives instructions about farmers leaving part of their crops for the poor to gather and take home. It mentions that any promises made to God must be fulfilled soon after you make them. An important part of this parashah are rules to follow when you find something that belongs to someone else. If you find an animal that has wandered away from its home, the Torah says you must return it. If you don’t know to whom it belongs, you can keep it until the owner claims it and then you must give it back. The Torah says “…and so too shall you do with anything your fellow loses and you find.”
What does this mean? There is no such thing as “Finders, keepers. Losers weepers.” Many people think if they find something and no one is around to claim it, they can keep it. The correct thing to do is to bring it to the nearest person in charge. This could be a store manager, a police officer, a teacher or a parent. The lost item might be very important to the person who lost it. It is a good deed, a mitzvah, to return the item to its owner.
What can you do? If you find something, try to find the person who lost it and return it to them!
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Marcia Berneger is a retired elementary school teacher as well as a teacher at Torah school. She is the author of such children’s books as Buster the Little Garbage Truck, and A Dreidel in Time.