Q. Many years ago I found a valuable woman’s watch on the sidewalk in our neighborhood. I am quite certain that it belonged to someone from our community. I never really pursued finding its rightful owner as I was young and was not aware of the halachos. What is my obligation at this point to locate the owner?
A. If the area where the watch was found is frequented by a majority of Gentiles, it can safely be assumed that a Jewish owner has despaired and given up hope of having his watch returned, the found object could then be kept by its finder (C.M. 259). There may be doubt whether the watch was found prior to the owner becoming aware of it being lost and despairing. However, Pischei Choshen (Aveidah 2, f.n 23) maintains that watches are like money in ones pocket, and we assume that the owner became aware immediately and lost hope.
Furthermore, even if the watch was lost by a Jewish owner in a place populated mostly by his coreligionists, if the watch does not have any particular siman (or recognizable characteristics) that could be used to find or identify the owner, we can assume that he has given up all hope of ever finding it.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit"a opinion is that a serial number on a watch is not a siman, since it is unlikely that the owner of the watch knows that number or after so many years, has kept the receipt for it. If there is a siman on the watch and therefore the owner did not loose hope of it being returned to him, and it came to the hands of the finder prior to the owners despair, he will have to follow the due process of return for all findings, even after many years. The fact that by now the owner certainly has lost all hope of recovery, is of no consequence, since it came to the finders hand before despair took effect and therefore the finder became liable to its rightful restoration.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Important Numbers
