Parshas Ki Seitzei: Help, I've Lost My Faith!

Have you ever considered that the most valuable possessions we can lose aren't physical at all? 

In this deeply moving exploration of Parashas Kisete, we uncover a revolutionary perspective on one of Judaism's most fundamental mitzvot: Hashavas Aveda, the commandment to return lost objects. While most of us understand this mitzvah in its literal sense—finding and returning physical items like wallets or pets—there exists a profound spiritual dimension that touches the very core of our purpose as Jews.

The Torah instructs, "If you should see your fellow Israelite's ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it." But what about when someone has lost something far more precious than material possessions? What about when they've lost their faith, their connection to tradition, or their place within the Jewish community? The mitzvah calls us to action in these situations too—perhaps with even greater urgency.

Drawing on teachings from the Alter of Slabodka and Rabbi Radinsky, we discover how returning lost souls differs from returning lost objects in one beautiful way: while a wallet has no desire to be found, the lost soul—like a wandering sheep—often yearns to return to its shepherd. As the Psalmist writes, "I am lost like a sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments." That spiritual spark remains, waiting to be reignited.

Through practical guidance and inspiring stories, we learn how simple actions—inviting someone to a Shabbos meal, learning together, or simply showing genuine interest in their journey—can help others reclaim what they've lost. By modeling what it means to prioritize Torah and mitzvos in our own lives, we create a magnetic pull that helps others rediscover their spiritual inheritance.

Ready to help someone find what they've lost? Listen now to discover how you can fulfill this timeless mitzvah in ways that transform lives forever.

Transcript

Mitzvah Melange: Parashas Kisete

Speaker 1 0:00

A mitzvah melange is what I would call parashas kisete. A great medley, a patchwork, a perfect blend of mitzvos, 74 different commandments from Hashem, all that are featured in our parasha, the most mitzvah dense parasha in all of Torah. It's important to follow the flow, the sequence, the connection, the one thing that leads to the next in our Parsha, and I'd like today to take a new look, a new view on an old topic, perhaps the oldest topic that there is, the very first thing that you learned about. The Pesach says If you should see your fellow Israelites ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it. You must take it back to your peer. This is the mitzvah of Hashovas Aveda returning lost objects. We have precise order sequence of events of what you should do to help the owner receive his item back. You should take it inside of your house, you should protect his item and you shall bring it into your home and remain with it until your peer claims it V'hashavosolo and return it to him. V'chintas alachamoro. Do this for your friend's animal, do it for his shirt, do it for all of the items that he may have misplaced. Return your fellow' items. This is probably the oldest mitzvah that you can recall with a real adult mind, as is the custom between ages 9 and 11 in almost all Jewish schools the young boys. When they begin to learn Gemara for the first time, they open a tractate, bava Mitzia, the middle Mesechta that is all sandwiched between Bava Basra and Bava Kama, the middle section about the laws of damages and financial matters that we call Nezikin and nestled in the second chapter of Tractate Above a Mitzvah is where most young gentlemen begin their Gemara study with Parak Elu Mitzvah.

Speaker 1 2:52

Elu Mitzvah is all about unpacking the laws of this mitzvah, of Hashavosolo, of Hashav Tishivim, of Hashavas Aveda, returning your friends' lost objects. There are many reasons why young Gemara-thirsty students begin with Elu Mitzias. It is very revelant to daily life. The legal concepts of ownership and returning are legal concepts that young ones can internalize the real world, application of these laws. The learning process is engaging.

Hashavas Aveda: Returning Lost Objects

Speaker 1 3:36

It's meaningful to the kids and one of the most legendary reasons of why children begin their study of Elamitzius about the laws of returning lost objects is because just one page into the parak is where you will have a world-famous machlokes take place, saw many different Gemara and Torah concepts differently and they have a famous dispute in Elu Medzias about how and when and if you're required to return lost objects. The dispute is about if you can assume that somebody who has lost their item has now given up hope he's been miyayish. Can you assume that he has now totally disregarded that he'll ever get his item back? And with different proofs back and forth, amorim are sparring Abaye and Rava and, in a crazy turn of events, in a certain instance Rava, who often disagrees with Abaye, reinterprets Amara Makom. He relearns a source to defend his opponent, to defend Abaye's opinion, and this famous exchange between these incredible scholars is one of the most important and early lessons that a young Torah scholar needs to know. He needs to see the intellectual integrity that is a must in Torah learning. It's not about being right, but if your opponent has a proof that makes more sense, something that's more straight, more just, more Jewish that's more straight, more just, more Jewish, with intellectual honesty, well then you see it his way, and even at times you argue for why I am incorrect and why you are correct. Hashava Saavedah is where you see this all begin to unfold.

Speaker 1 5:46

So you're surely aware of the entire parak and its laws, of Hashava Saavedah, the positive commandment to return the object to the rightful owner. We also have in our parasha, or more specifically, you'll find in our parasha that the negative commandment, the corollary negative commandment in parashas, kitsehseh, that says that if you should see your brother's ox or sheep staying, do not ignore it, but be sure to take it back to him. So it's not just that you should have positive encouragement, a positive commandment to return it, but you're also warned and maybe even could be lashed if you pretend to not see your friend's item. If he's a Jewish person, he assumes he's going to find his lost watch. Then you got to return it. It's not always easy and even if you don't like the fellow you find Karl Marx's Rolex or Bernie Madoff's Rolls Royce, it doesn't matter. I think the law is still that you are required to return the item to your friend. You should keep trying to return it. Ensure that you give it back to him, even if you have to find a safe and cozy spot in your house.

Speaker 1 6:59

Put in real effort to try to find the owner. You have to keep the item secure. You have to listen for the proper identification marks, the simonim. When you come to bring forward the object Bernie Madoff or Karl Marx, both Jewish fellows need to say, oh yeah, that's my Rolex because it's my name's on the back, I can identify it. Bernie Madoff says that's my Rolls Royce because there's stolen money in the back. That's just a bad joke, but he can identify it. As soon as somebody can identify something that's proof that it's there, then you can give it back to him and you've fulfilled the positive commitment.

Beginning Gemara with Elu Mitzias

Speaker 1 7:32

One of the oldest jokes that I've ever heard it comes from my dad. He would always say whenever somebody was looking to return some lost money, he would always say it's mine and I have a sim in. It has the picture of a president on it and it's green, which is obviously a joke because almost all the bills are like Identified that same way. But here's our mitzvah of Asherah Savedov. It's over a puta. You clearly got to bring it back and fulfill this mitzvah and, like we said and we began, it's one of the oldest concepts you're familiar with, but today I'd like to see it in a new light, A certain way that we haven't seen HaShava Saavedah before. A new Yisod, a new view. I was listening to Rabbi Radinsky, the brilliant Torah genius, the head of a community, the Rosh HaYeshiva in Muncie, another worldly Torah scholar, and he cited many different sources to prove one yesod, and it's this week's podcast. I'd like to share it with you.

Speaker 1 8:41

The aspect of the mitzvah that sometimes we overlook in Hashava Saavedah, and what is it? It's not necessarily returning tangible property, real estate or personal property, but the mitzvah is also required for somebody's intangible property. Required for somebody's intangible property, most notably on today's topic their ruchnius, their faith and their connection to the Holy One. Blessed be he. It can happen that a person can lose his faith T-H at the end, faith T-H at the end. It is possible that a person can misplace his care and concern for the Holy One. Blessed be His commandments. His most priceless possessions can go missing, but V'hashivosolo Hoshav T'shivim Hashovas Aveda requires that, even if it's burdensome, we're to engage in trying to bring a person back his lost items, and it doesn't just mean his wallet or his ring or his car, but his Torah and his mitzvot.

Speaker 1 10:05

So many people, if you look around the world Jews, religious, unreligious, irreligious we simply can serve God without passion or we can lower it in our lives on the ladder, on the totem pole of what's important. We can misplace our faith, but the act of Hashavah Saavedah requires that we go out of our way to help our friends keep their faith, to return what they have lost. The way that you can practically do that is no matter what Somebody who's been constantly suffering and has thrown in the towel with his prayer, given up hope. He's been miyayish on having a real connection with Hashem. Miyayish with buying his sukkah. Miyayish with acquiring any real Torah knowledge, a struggle to find faith in themselves.

Speaker 1 11:24

You can help him to find it again. You can call him and show interest in him. You can invite him to a Shabbos meal. You can show him that the hard times are something that many people go through but they eventually end and the pendulum swings back into the bright and sunny good days. You can help show somebody that they have lost something and you can knock on their door and say my friend, I'm here. I'd love to know if maybe you just want to hang out, grab a cup of coffee and talk about something that's on your mind, in an effort to really befriend him and to show him that you care and try to be Makari of him.

A New Perspective on Returning

Speaker 1 12:10

Bring him close to Hashem and bring him close to what he didn't even know that he lost, which is the most priceless, intangible property that he owns intangible property that he owns, the act of Hashavas Aveda and all of the intricate study of the ethics of this mitzvah, the diligence and empathy that it requires for us to care about our friend's property. It requires that we do the same and care the same with our friend's ruchnias, I might argue, and most that have a head on their shoulders, I believe, would also argue that helping somebody to find what he was missing, when it is his bloodline, his heartbeat, his happiness, his goal, and to show him his life, his obligations in the world and a life that's beautiful, I think that's the most important thing that you can return to somebody. It's perhaps the greatest situation and fulfillment of the mitzvah of Ashava Saaveta of returning lost possession. There's been crazy stories about Ashava Saveda in the news and you've probably been floored by them. I'd like to share one or two of them with you and then show you how you can do the same tomorrow. You can do something even greater than these stories tomorrow or tonight. Today, if you try to help people that may have lost faith, lost care and concern about their spiritual obligations and the love and relationship with Hashem, you can help them to refine these personal, intangible items and fulfill Hashav HaSavedah in a way that is otherworldly.

Speaker 1 14:07

It was a Connecticut rabbi found $98,000 cash in a drawer, in a plastic bag of an ordinary desk that he bought on Craigslist a couple years ago during the month of September. His name was Rabnoach Muroff, a high school rebbe at the Jewish school in New Haven, connecticut. He couldn't fit this new desk into the doorway to get it into his office. When they took out the drawers to be able to maneuver it through the narrow doorway, they found a wad, wads of cash. The rabbi saw the money, began to laugh. He said we were looking at each other, me and my wife, just laughing. This kind of thing only happens in the movies, he said. I guess he watched movies. I knew this was not our money, it was hers. So I called Patty within 20 minutes of finding the money and around 1130 pm that same evening Rabinov Muroff phoned Patty and Patty was speechless, without words. He said, as reported by CNN, she was floored.

Speaker 1 15:29

The couple, I believe they actually consulted a rabbi in those 20 minutes to figure out what to do. They may have even been entitled to keep the money, as it's very hard to. Well, let's just leave the halakhic sugya of why they may have been entitled to keep the more than $90,000. But their interest was to make a kiddush Hashem, hoping that their good deeds would send the message of quote, of honesty and integrity and doing the right thing. An incredible example of Hashavas Aveda. And as great as that story is that somebody has the moral integrity and this fear of heaven to be able, even maybe as a rabbi that he was he probably wasn't a loaded millionaire. $98,000 would probably go a long way towards his mortgage or a new minivan, but instead, without even probably a second thought, of course, you return the item.

Speaker 1 16:26

Hosef T'shivim, you can be like Rabbi Noach Meroff, you can be someone that's in that league or do something, return something that may be even more important to a person returning him to his self, returning him, showing him that he lost his soul, he lost his way. You can show him the path, show him the spiritual world. You can learn with him. You can befriend him. You can invite him. You can pray with him, spar with him. You can invite him. You can pray with him, spar with him, hang out with him, but be mekarev him, ove shalom verod, be like Aaron Akoin and bring him close to the beautiful life of Judaism.

Returning Intangible Property: Faith

Speaker 1 17:17

Do you know the Mona Lisa, the famous painting of Leonardo da Vinci, valued in 1963 of over 100 million, now is estimated to be $760 million today. It actually was stolen by an Italian employee of the Lovre I don't know if that's a city, lovre, italy. His name is Vincenzo Perugia, italy. His name is Vincenzo Perugia. He was hiding the painting for two years. After he stole the most famous and priceless painting in the world. He was caught trying to sell on the black market this famous painting to a dealer in Florence and the painting was eventually returned.

Speaker 1 18:05

Well, I'd hope that that story would come out more with how not to do Hoshav T'shivim or how, and famous examples of returning things. It all pales in comparison to what we can do with our spiritual hashev teshivim of people. But there are many reasons why this would not be a proof, a source. I don't believe that there ever was a returning. It was actually taken out of the man's hands and returned Leonardo da Vinci, I guess he had now bequeathed it and now it's owned by the Italian art gallery of sorts. So maybe it was not a fulfilling of returning a painting to the rightful owner, because maybe they weren't the rightful owner or maybe they were. But either way, this is how not to do Hushave to Sheevan. Don't steal the Mona Lisa. If you do, be sure to return it, but forget that. You have to excuse me about the previous proof, the lack of thought and focus about connecting that proof to the topic at hand.

Speaker 1 19:14

Second week of Elosmon it's been a busy couple weeks. It's been an exciting couple weeks. It's been an exciting couple days of bath time and doctor runs, kid caring and now I have a new exciting job in the yeshiva. But there's no excuses and we continue.

Speaker 1 19:35

There's one more part of this Hashavah Zaveda that I'd like to bring to your attention the returning of somebody's soul, this spiritual, intangible property that we're discussing trying to bring back to its lost owner. It's different because of another thing. The altar of Slavodka brought this to our attention when he cited a posik, tehillim, kofi Hottes, verse 176. It's a famous song, a famous posik. It's also famous because it's the last posik of the longest chapter of Tehillim. The posuk says I am lost, I am fablungened, totally lost, like a sheep Just aimlessly wandering. I'm looking for my shepherd Because I have not forgotten your mitzvos.

Speaker 1 20:39

The altar of Slabodka said this is what it's like to return somebody's lost item, where somebody has lost the faith, the sheep wandering aimlessly and the shepherd. He longs to find his lost sheep. But here's where things get different. In this case the sheep also longs to be returned to its shepherd. It works both ways. Normally the item, like a wallet or a ring, does not have feelings and does not desire to be found. He says the altar of Slabodka, the muscle here here, the parable here, the hyperbole here is that when a person loses his Torah and mitzvos, he has to remember, and we have to remember, that deep down he still has that spiritual spark, deep down his pintle of y, the heart of a Jew, still burns. The match-like charcoal briquettes are ready to be lit. Sometimes they just need a match.

Stories of Hashavas Aveda

Speaker 1 22:05

A person who's lost his Torah is like this lost deer, this lost sheep, that it really wants to find Torah and mitzvahs again. Because how many times, how many examples do we have where somebody may not even realize what he had lost, may not have even cared very much about his Judaism, but all of a sudden, somehow somebody cares about him, somehow he hears a song that inspires him, he hears a story that just turns his heart on to Torah and mitzv. He becomes motivated and spiritually roused again. From a Shabbaton, from a Drosha, from a Yom Tif, from a Shabbos Suda. The lost sheep has been brought back because the shepherd is searching for the sheep, but the sheep, deep down every person. He really wants to come back as well. When he removes the outer clogging or the outer hard shell that can wear and tear and grow on a person's spiritual heart, ki mitzvot secha lo shalchachti, the positive ends, he hasn't forgot Torah and mitzvahs and he hasn't forgotten his obligations and what life's about.

Speaker 1 23:32

It's our job to keep trying to return people's souls. It's our job to ensure not just that they find what they were looking for, but for us and ourselves and our friends to hope and try that we never lose our most priceless possession, but to maintain the relationship and to feed the spiritual relationship. How do you do that? How do you ensure Torah and mitzvos are paramount in your life and in others' mouth, other friends, colleagues' lives? I think you lead by example, because everyone still wants to do what the cool kids do and people hardly grow up.

Speaker 1 24:27

The cool kids that we want to follow just change. So when you set an example that it's cool to go to Davening, that the cool kids stay till the very end of Kaddish, that the cool kids wake up early to learn that. The cool kids they go hear what the rabbi has to say and the cool kids give honor to the rabbi. The cool kids you, you and your friends. Your family puts God's will first and says no to certain experiences that are anti what God wants us to do and we abide by the holy and moral rules, the commandments, the mitzvos. You show that it's cool and it's in style. It's a fad, an eternal fad. That's how you can help people to always want to cling to it. They want to follow you and they never want to lose this intangible spiritual property that is priceless and eternal.

Speaker 1 25:31

Hashav T'Shivim is our lesson this week. V'hashavot solo is our lesson To return people's Torah, return their faith, empower them, motivate them, encourage them, rouse them spiritually. Stoke their coals and invite them to Shabbos meals and sudos, Invite them for yontif. Spiritually rouse your friends, look out for your fellows, not just in his physical property, not just in his real property, his personal property, but it's in his spiritual property and over and over, to try and return it to him. And you should remember that he, deep down, is also looking for it and he really wants to find it again, the lost sheep. He wants to find his shepherd again.

Speaker 1 26:25

You can make the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate capitalizing on opportunities, like the great rabbi who returned the $98,000. You can do that tonight and today and tomorrow, every day that you live, when you help people find their most important possessions. When you help people find their most important possessions A Hashavosolo Hashav T'Shivim, a cornerstone of Judaism, deeply rooted in our Torah and our mitzvos. And this week we are now encouraged to see perhaps the very first thing that we ever learned about in our Torah education endeavors. And now we see it in a new light. We see it connected to a whole different world. Help people not to lose their most important possessions. Better yet, set a good example. Be the cool kid that puts God first. No-transcript.