Mitzvos and Values
לֹא תִרְאֶה אֶת שׁוֹר אָחִיךָ אוֹ אֶת שֵׂיוֹ נִדָּחִים וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ מֵהֶם הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם לְאָחִיךָ... וְכֵן תַּעֲשֶׂה לְכָל אֲבֵדַת אָחִיךָ אֲשֶׁר תֹּאבַד מִמֶּנּוּ וּמְצָאתָהּ לֹא תוּכַל לְהִתְעַלֵּם.
You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep wandering and ignore them; you shall surely return them to your brother… And so you shall do for any lost item of your brother that may become lost from him; you may not ignore it.[1]
These verses deal with the well-known mitzvah of hashavas aveidah – returning lost property. The Alshich Hakadosh raises some fascinating questions regarding the nuances of the Torah’s presentation of this mitzvah.
- The opening prohibition seems overly wordy, for it says “לֹא תִרְאֶה... וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ – You shall not see… and ignore them.” By definition, ignoring something involves seeing it, in which case the verse could simply have said “You shall not ignore the ox of your brother etc.”
- The double phrasing of the command, “הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם” is commonly translated as “You shall surely return them.” This is somewhat difficult. If the verse had only said “תְּשִׁיבֵם — You shall return them,” would we have thought that it isn’t sure? Almost all mitzvos are written with just one word, and yet the Torah is quite sure that we need to do them. What then, is the meaning behind the double expression?
- The final verse ends with the words “לֹא תוּכַל לְהִתְעַלֵּם”, which literally means, “You cannot ignore it.” Of course, we know that a person can ignore it; it is just that the Torah does not allow him to. If so, why not just say “לא תתעלם — Do not ignore it,” the way most prohibitions are phrased?
The Alshich explains. The mitzvah of returning lost property is one which is very easy to relate to. It is a wonderful act of kindness to reunite someone with their property, who otherwise may never have seen it again. However, as easy as it is to relate to it, is also very easy not to do it. Returning lost property can sometimes be inconvenient, taking one out of one’s way, and we are all very busy people. To avoid this mitzvah is also remarkably easy — all one needs to do is ignore the lost object. Ignoring things that are inconvenient for one to see is a human specialty. It is possible to ignore the object because one is on his way to a business meeting, a get-together with friends or, for that matter, a conference on ethics, including one devoted to the topic of having regard for other people’s property!
This aspect of human nature is referred to in the first verse which states “וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ”, which we noted seems somewhat redundant, and which literally means, “You will ignore it.” This is the Torah telling the person that left to his own devices, he will ignore the object, and the highly celebrated and much admired value of returning lost property will remain forever extrinsic to his being. Thus, the Torah commands to give it back using the double phrase “הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם”. The difference between these two words is that the first word, הָשֵׁב, is a command form — “give it back”; whereas the second word, תְּשִׁיבֵם, is a descriptive form — “you will give it back.” These two words make up the educational process of this mitzvah, whereby initially the Torah commands the person to return it and, after heeding that command enough times, the person then naturally comes to return it. The transition from הָשֵׁב as command to תְּשִׁיבֵם as description represents the transition of this value from one’s ethical lexicon to one’s moral makeup.
The end result is described in the final phrase, "לֹא תוּכַל לְהִתְעַלֵּם", which as we noted literally means, “You are unable to ignore it.” This is the transformational result of the process of fulfilling this mitzvah. Prior to doing the mitzvah, you may have been incapable of seeing the object. Having trained yourself through the mitzvah, you are now incapable of ignoring it!
This, then, is a major part of what the practical mitzvos do for us: They take values that exist in our dictionary and make them part of our diary.
[1] Devarim 22:1-3