For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 27
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Our next mishna is an excerpt from a halakhic midrash concerning lost items, based on the verse: “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep wandering, and disregard them; you shall return them to your brother…And so shall you do with his donkey; and so shall you do with his garment; and so shall you do with every lost item of your brother, which shall be lost from him, and you have found it; you may not disregard it”(Deuteronomy 22:1, 3).
The garment was also included in the generalization that one must return all of these items.
The Halacha of hashavas Aveidah is a motivating force in saving another’s life (Sanhedrin 73) which prompts our exploration of the ethics of hostage rescue.