There was a story with someone who brought a certain sefer on Hilchos Ribbis, and brought it to the beis hamedrash and left it there (the sefer had no name in). After two days he came to the beis hamedrash and he found the same sefer on a different shtender, however, he wasn’t sure if it was his sefer or not, as perhaps someone else brought the same sefer, and what he found is someone else’s. In such a case may one take the sefer?
Similarly, what’s the halachah if one leaves his umbrella in shul, and it has no siman [distinguishing features], and when he returns to shul to the place where he originally left his umbrella he finds an umbrella there, however, he isn’t 100% sure if it is his or not. Can we say that the place is a siman and one may take it, or do we say that since he isn’t 100% sure it’s his, it is considered stealing if one takes it?
The Case of the Mikvah Towel
The Shu”t Minchas Yitzchok (3:17) discusses a case of someone who lost his towel in mikvah, and after a day or two he finds a similar looking towel, however, he has no siman that it is his. He writes: It’s difficult to say that the place is a siman, as just like he left his towel there, similarly, someone else could as well, therefore, the place is not such a good siman. However, if the item has been there for a while where it doesn’t make sense that the original owner wouldn’t have returned to look for it, then certainly in such a case we allow the owner of the lost towel to keep it.
Although there is a machlokes between the Ketzos and Nesivos if one is allowed to be lenient in such a case, as perhaps it is considered that the item entered his hand b’issur due to the obligation of hashovas aveidah, the Minchas Yitzchok writes: Since there is also a doubt that the item is his, and there is no one else looking for it, we say it is definitely his and he may take it and keep it.
The Pischei Choshen (Hilchos Aveidah, Perek 3, he’orah 53) adds: Even if it may belong to someone else, and the real owner doesn’t know he lost a towel, and in terms of Hilchos Yi’ush it may be forbidden to take, since in our case there is a doubt that perhaps it belongs to him, even if later on someone would come along and say he lost such an item, he wouldn’t be able to take it off the one who now has it, as he also doesn’t have a siman. We aren’t concerned that person 2 may later bring a siman, or witnesses, because if we would be, then every time one finds an aveidah without a siman we should be concerned.
One Has to Really Be Unsure
However, one is only allowed to take the item, if he has a real doubt that it may be his, if, however, one is certain the item isn’t his, even if he lost a similar item, there is no heter for him to take it for himself. Although we will see below that in some cases, one may be lenient.
