“You shall not see your brother's ox or sheep straying [and getting lost] and ignore them. [Rather,] you shall return them to your brother.” (Devarim 22:1)
The Yalkut Shimoni (Parshas Ki Saitzay 930) states as follows: “We see from this Passuk that there is a Mitzvah of returning a lost ox to one’s brother [or anyone else who is a friend]. But where do we find that the Mitzvah of returning a lost ox exists for the ox of one’s enemy? The Passuk in Shemos 23:4, when discussing the same Mitzvah, employs the language of returning, ‘the ox of your enemy.’ [When taking the two above referenced Passukim together,] the implication is that an ox owned by anyone [your friend, your enemy or anyone else must be returned.] [However,] why does this Passuk in Devarim use the term, ‘your brother’s ox?’ [This Passuk is extra, because if you know that there is a Mitzvah to return your enemy’s ox, all the more so, there would be a Mitzvah to return your brother’s ox?] Rather, the Torah needed to write this [“your brother’s ox”] ‘Kneged HaYetzer’ to address ‘the evil inclination.’”
There is a debate as to how to interpret the last line of the Midrash above - that the Torah needed to write, “your brother’s ox” to address the evil inclination.
Rabbeinu Hillel, a Rishon that wrote a commentary on the Sifrei (section 222) explains that both Passukim need to be written to teach that when one is faced with two lost items – one owned by his brother and one owned by his enemy – he should give precedence to the one owned by his enemy so that he will have practice in overcoming his evil inclination as the evil inclination makes it harder to return the animal of your enemy than that of your brother. This is also the understanding of the Malbim.
QUESTION: There are people who donate sets of Seforim (Jewish books) to Shul libraries for public use. In many of these Shul libraries, the bookcases are filled to capacity with Seforim. Consequently, the Gabbaim (Shul assistants) will at times give away extra Seforim – even entire sets of Seforim. “Reuvain” took one of the give-away sets with the blessing of the Gabbaim. Let’s assume that this particular set had six volumes in it and now the publisher has just come out with a seventh volume. May Reuvain write a letter to the publisher that says as follows: “Our Shul has received a donated set of your six volume Sefarim set. I noticed that your publishing firm has just released a seventh volume to the set. Would you be so kind as to forward that volume to our Shul as well?”
Reuvain’s reason for writing to the publisher is that he knows that when the Shul Gabbaim receive the seventh volume from the publisher, the Gabbaim will likely forward it to him to complete the set that they gave him originally. Is Revain permitted to write to the publisher in this manner?
ANSWER: This question was posed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky ZT”L by a friend of this author (the assistant mayor of Kiryat Sefer). Rav Chaim ruled that it is Genaivas Daas (the prohibition of deceiving another) and is completely forbidden. Subsequently, he published the ruling in volume seven of his work, “VaYishma Moshe” (p. 638). Rav Chaim explained the Genaivas Daas as follows: The publisher has been deceived into thinking that the new, seventh volume is going to a Shul. Publishers donate Seforim to a Shul so the Shul attendees might see the Seforim and go out and buy a set for themselves. If the publisher knew that it was ultimately going to be forwarded by the Shul to a private person, the publisher would never have provided it as there would not be ample opportunity for others to see it and buy a copy for themselves.
