Rosh Hashanah Is Coming: 2 Practical Halachot to Help You Prepare

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, these practical halachot can help us prepare for the Day of Judgment while using the final days of Elul to strengthen our mitzvah observance. Here are two daily halachot from BeHalacha UveAggadah, based on the rulings of Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory, followed by ten important laws about returning lost property.

Why Is It Important to Perform Hatarat Nedarim Before Rosh Hashanah?

It is customary to perform hatarat nedarim, the annulment of vows, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Ideally, the annulment should be conducted before ten people who are knowledgeable in halacha.

This declaration is particularly relevant when a person decides to adopt a good practice or stringency and follows it three times without specifying that they are doing so “without a vow.”

The declaration made on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur states that any good practice we adopt should be considered without a vow. A person may therefore rely on this declaration if, at a later point, they wish to discontinue such a practice, rather than requiring a separate annulment before three people.

Why Is Rosh Hashanah a Gift to the Jewish People?

The Creator of the world did us a great kindness by revealing to us when the Day of Judgment takes place. The nations of the world are unaware of the significance of this day, and for them, it is like any other day of the year.

But Hashem, in His mercy, revealed the meaning of this day to the Jewish people for our benefit, giving us the opportunity to prepare ourselves and arrive at the Day of Judgment ready.

On the first day of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, Hashem judges every person in the world individually. Each person is judged for all their deeds. Nothing is forgotten before the Judge of all the earth; everything is revealed and known to Him.

At that time, three books are opened in Heaven: the book of the righteous, the book of the intermediate, and the book of the wicked. Each person’s merits and sins are weighed, and according to the balance between them, a person’s fate for the coming year is determined.

Today’s Mitzvah: Returning Lost Property

Elul is a time to examine our actions, strengthen our mitzvah observance, and draw closer to our Father in Heaven. Here are ten halachot about returning lost property, based on Yalkut Yosef by Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory, sections 259 and 271.

1. Anyone who sees a lost item belonging to a Jew is obligated to take care of it and return it to its owner, as the Torah states: “You shall surely return them.”
2. The obligation to return a lost item applies when the circumstances indicate that the object was genuinely lost rather than deliberately left behind or abandoned; when it is worth at least a perutah; when the item itself or its location provides an identifying mark; when the finder would have handled the item had it been their own; and when it belongs to someone whose lost property one is obligated to return. If even one of these conditions is missing, there may be no obligation to return it.
3. Women are obligated in the mitzvah of returning lost property because it is a positive commandment that is not time-bound. However, a woman is exempt from returning an item that she would not ordinarily pick up and carry, just as an elderly person is exempt when doing so would be inconsistent with their dignity.
4. A kohen who sees a lost item in a cemetery may not enter the cemetery to retrieve it. Returning lost property is a positive commandment, while the prohibition against a kohen becoming impure through contact with the dead involves both a positive and a negative commandment. One positive commandment does not override both a positive and a negative commandment. In addition, a prohibition is not set aside for the sake of another person’s money.
5. If a person finds a sack, box, or another item that would be beneath their dignity to carry in public, they should consider what they would do if the object were their own. If they would pick it up and carry it for themselves, they are obligated to do the same for another person. If they would not compromise their dignity even for their own property, they are not legally obligated to return someone else’s. Nevertheless, according to Maran the Shulchan Aruch, the proper and good path is to return the lost item even when doing so is beneath one’s dignity.
6. A respected, wealthy person who finds a lost item that would ordinarily be beneath their dignity to pick up and return based on identifying marks may choose to forgo their dignity and return it.
7. If a lost item, whether or not it has an identifying mark, appears to have been deliberately placed somewhere, it should not be moved. Its owner may have left it there intending to return. If someone takes an item with no identifying mark, they could cause the owner a financial loss because there would be no way for the owner to identify and reclaim it.
8. If a person finds scattered coins, they belong to the finder.
9. Public places, such as a yeshiva or other public institution, should consider posting a visible notice stating that anyone who fails to collect belongings or books by a specified time does so at their own risk. The institution will no longer be responsible for those items, and its administration may use them as it sees fit.
10. The mitzvah of returning lost property also contains a deeper lesson. If we see another person straying from the proper path, we should try to help bring them back. If the Torah commands us to return someone’s lost possessions, how much more so should we care about restoring the loss of their soul.

Our sages alluded to this in their interpretation of the words, “And you shall return it to him,” including the loss of oneself. We should help restore a person’s soul when it is being driven from place to place. In doing so, we can benefit them both in this world and in the World to Come (Minchat Chinuch, commandment 239).