By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times
This article is written l’ilui nishmas my mother, Sarah Bas HaRav Eliyahu whose yartzeit is 22 Av. She was a remarkable baalas chessed who cared about all people. She made a number of weddings for Kallahs who were unable to afford weddings of their own.
It is a list like no other.
• A shopping bag with six steaks left in the freezer.
• 2/3rds of a case of Gatorade
• A case of Poland Spring water
• Many Seforim with names
• 17 full size box fans
• 5 standing fans
• A Brooks Brother suit
• A Brooks Brother pair of parents – no jacket
• 8 Davening jackets no names
• 39 full size towels
• 57 white shirts
This week marks the last week of sleep-away camps in the Catskills, the Poconos and elsewhere. It is also the week where thousands of young boys and girls, just leave their stuff in the bunkhouses. The halachic questions abound: What are the obligations of the children to bring these things back home? Is there an obligation on the camp director to return the items? Are the items considered hefker?
Before we begin, it is worthwhile that this week – every parent should remind their kids to take all their stuff home. The clothing items lost in camp can reach near astronomical prices when it is compounded by the fact that parents send many kids to camp.
So REMIND YOUR KIDS TO TAKE EVERYTHING HOME.
Indeed, there is an obligation incumbent upon the children to bring back items that belong to their parents. If it belongs to them, there is another obligation of looking after your own items.
Is it up to the camp director to return the item? We find that in regard to lost objects there is an obligation called “lehachriz” to announce the item. We do not find a physical obligation to make one’s way to the owner and physically give it to him.
THE CONCEPT OF YIUSH
The obligation to return a lost item is predicated on another concept – Did the owner give up hope in finding it or not? If he gave up hope, in halachic terminology called “Yiush” the Mitzvah of Hashavas Aveidah is no longer there. If he has not given up hope – there would seem to be an obligation of Hashavas Aveidah to return the items.
The problem is that, quite often, there is so much stuff to return, one would require a huge “Lost and Found” area as well as a staffer designated for just this. Numerous Poskim and institutions have addressed the issue in an attempt to figure out how to resolve the halachic issues involved in Hashavas Aveidah in commercial places.
POSTING SIGNS
Rav Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe (YD I #150) that the reason there is no Mitzvah of Hashavas Aveidah when the owner had already given up hope is because the Torah only obligated a person to return an item when the owner thinks about the item and considers himself as its owner and has neither given up on the item nor has removed has ownership from it. Even though it is not yet considered Hefker – ownerless, there is no Mitzvah to return it.
Rav Moshe Feinstein (IM CM II #45) and Dayan Weiss (Minchas Yitzchok Vol. VIII #146) both suggest that every institution create a policy and notify others of it that after a certain time, the items will be considered hefker. Some Poskim have ruled that these policies are effective even on items that have a siman on them. The signs have to be seen by everyone in order for them to be effective. One possible effect of the sign is that even if it does not work halachically, it may work enough to precipitate yi’ush on the part of the owner anyway – even if he doesn’t believe it. Rav Moshe Shternbuch qualifies how and when such a sign can be useful (Teshuvos V’hanhagos 1:118), but he limits its ability.
PROBLEM OF MINORS
One problem with all this is that when we are dealing with a camp the majority of those who leave over items are minors. The Gemorah (Bava Metziah 22b) and Tosfos (d’lav) seem to indicate that a minor, a katan, does not have the legal ability to have yi’ush. That being the case, the hefker signs would not seem to work. The Me’ain HaChochmah (on BM 22b) by Rav Mezolishtchik, however, has another reading of
the Gemorah where he writes that a minor can have yi’ush just like an adult and that Gemorah refers to the idea of Hefker not yi’ush.
On the other hand, it could be that the owners of the items that the children leave behind are not the children themselves, but rather the parents. If so, there very well could be yi’ush – but on the parents’ part. It could also very well be that the parents and the children are themselves not exactly sure who is the halachic owner of the item per se.
POSSIBLE RESOLUTION
Perhaps this may sound naïve on the author’s part, but isn’t the purpose of our camps and Yeshivos to istill yiras shamayim and a love of Mitzvos in our students and campers? If that is the case, why are we bending over backwards to try to find halachic solutions to the “problem of Hashavas Avaidah?”
Why should we not instead, look at this as an opportunity to adopt a ‘mais Mitzvah” of sorts – the Mitzvah of hashavas Avaidah? The last few days of camp could be devoted to observing this Mitzvah I the best possible manner. We could learn about the Mitzvah and how and when we can apply it. We can also organize the lost objects, contact and announce to whomever were the previous owners, and create a “Vaad Hashavas Aveidah” of sorts to partake in this beautiful Torah Mitzvah.
If we think about it, many of the Mitzvos throughout the year are derabanan – here we have an opportunity to perform a Torah Mitzvah, why do we not grab hold of it and maximize the manner in which we perform it?
The author can be reached at [email protected]
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One Response
One summer i was one of the last people to leave camp and i have witnessed such forgoten items. I think when the whole camp is lined up waiting for the bus the camp staff can go back to the bunks for a general inspection. Finding the owner is not such a big deal if its done in the right time.