Rabbi Konigsburg's Blog

In general, it seems intuitive that if you find money on the floor, then you get to keep it. “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” But why is this the case? Surely, the money belongs to somebody else, and we can assume that they didn’t intend to simply toss it on the floor. And if the money belongs to someone else, then wouldn’t that be stealing if we pocketed it? What we intuit in this situation is that all money generally looks alike and the person who lost it would not be able to find it again. But what if the money was piled-up in a certain way, or in a certain place, couldn’t it be possible that someone could return and identify the money as their own?

In Parshat Ki Teitzei, we read about the obligation to return lost objects. Instead of money, this week’s Torah portion speaks of lost animals. “If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow” (Deuteronomy 22:1). Returning lost objects is more than a nice thing to do, it is a commandment! But what if you don’t know who it belongs to? Can you keep it? The Torah explains, “If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it” (Ibid. 22:2). And then to make sure everything is clear, the Torah explains that this isn’t just for an ox or sheep, but even a donkey, a garment, or anything that your fellow loses (Ibid. 22:3).

It is one thing to say that you must return an object to the owner. But consider the financial loss the finder might incur while they were sheltering, feeding, and safekeeping the lost animal. Our sages teach that if we are holding on to something that belongs to someone else, we must protect it to the best of our abilities and ensure that its value doesn’t diminish. This means that while we are holding on to it trying to find the owner, we shouldn’t be using it for our own purposes. You can’t use the lost ox to plow your field. 

Returning to our original case of lost money, our Sages prohibit us from using or “keeping” any item that has some discerning feature. This feature can be a mark on the physical item, or can even be about where the item was lost, and how the item was placed. However, if the item was lost in a public place where normally people would give up on getting it back, or in a situation where there is no way to make a good faith effort to return it, then the Rabbis concede that “finder keepers, losers weepers.” (See Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat, 262)