The attached video was submitted to YWN. It shows the incredible moment a Frum man returns a bag with more than $80,000 in CASH to it’s owners, a Muslim couple, making a huge Kiddush Hashem.
The man in the video, a member of the Bukharian community in Kew Gardens Hills, tells YWN he found the money in Queens Supreme Court this past Friday. The courtroom was full of people, all there for a foreclosure auction taking place.
An argument had broken out, prompting the judge to order everyone to leave the building in short order. The man quickly gathered his things, including the inconspicuous plastic shopping bag, which he assumed belonged to a family member who had also been at the auction. It was only after he had left the building and gotten into his car that he noticed the bags contained money.
Several minutes later, he received a phone call from a distraught man who claimed he had misplaced a bag with $78,000 at the auction. The owner of the money had gotten the Frum man’s phone number from other people at the auction who had it. Without hesitating, the Frum man re-entered the building where he returned every last dollar he had found – $88,000 – ten thousand MORE than the Muslim man knew he had misplaced.
The Frum man declined a TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR reward he was offered, explaining he was more than happy to perform the Mitzvah of returning a lost item. He did ask the Muslim man to inform his community and friends of the kind deed a religious Jew had done for him, thus maximizing the Kiddush Hashem.
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Finally.
A correct use of the term.
What a waste! To an arab! Tomorrow he’ll surely forget!
It’s certainly not a mitzvah but is a kind gesture.
Very nice story and HUGE Kiddush Hashem which is a Mitzvah, however it is not a Mitzvah to “return a lost object” in this specific case , as stated in the article
Sounds like everyone knew he was the one that had the bag. Had he not returned it it would’ve been a chillul hashem. Additionally returning the lost object of a goy is not a mitzva. Sorry. But he prevented a chillul hashem. That’s the way I see it
Muslims are not baalei avoda zora, unlike Christians who are. So this lchora it is muttar to return.
Doesn’t matter who it was. The fact is that he didn’t really find the money. He took the bag thinking it belongs to one of his friends. The big question is, how did this guy have 88.000 $ cash ?
There is a difference between aveidas akum and ta’us akum. The former has some form of chiyuv attached to it, while the latter does not (I believe).
ANON21 – Many seforim (including the Chofetz Chaim in many places) write that “Kiddush Hashem” is the opposite of “Chillul Hashem”. So while he might indeed not have been able to keep it safely and would probably have made a Chillul Hashem had he tried, it is still a Kiddush Hashem to return it. He also did not have to decline the reward, that was additional pure Kiddush Hashem – especially when he connected it to the message “tell your friends that Jews are good people.”!
Did I miss something from the story?
The Jewish man took someone else’s bag accidentally, and returned it. This was not a lost item, this was an item that he took by mistake.
I can’t even believe that anyone who has even a drop of belief in the Torah would think that he’s not obligated to return this bag.
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DOUBT, THIS SHOULD ANSWER YOUR ….Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach was very poor, but he had no regrets except one – that too much time was wasted on carrying the loads of nuts on his bare shoulders. How he wished he could spend this time in the company of his students and teach them more and more of the Divine wisdom of the Torah. Finally, he decided to buy a mule. He sold the chat¬tels of his home and bought a mule.
When he brought the mule from the market, his students went out to see it. They stroked it and petted it and ad¬mired it, and then they suddenly dis¬covered a precious stone hanging down from its neck, hidden in a little bag. The students rushed into the house. “G d’s name be praised!”, they ex¬claimed. “G d has rewarded your piety. You are a wealthy man now! Our dear master shall know no more want!”
They showed him the precious dia¬mond which they had discovered on the mule. But Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach did not share their excitement.
“G d forbid, that I take this dia¬mond,” he said. “I only bought a mule from that Ishmaelite, and this diamond does not belong to me.”
Whereupon Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach ran to the market in search of the man who had sold him the mule. He found the Ishmaelite and returned to him the precious stone. The Ishmaelite was amazed at such unheard of honesty.
“Blessed be the G d of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach!”, he exclaimed, and never became tired of repeating it over and over again.
I don’t see what the big deal is. Everyone knew he took the bag so obviously he had to return it or he’d get into big trouble. Making a big deal about Jews returning money makes us seem like a money hungry people. I’ve read stories of non-Jews too who gave back money to people who lost it and most of them didn’t make a big deal out of it.
I’ve also returned cash to a non-Jew that was sent to my address by mistake (of course not such a large amount). I was able to return it to the intended recipient. It never occurred to me to tell her when I gave back the money, that she should tell their friends how good Jews are because I returned money to them. It’s just plain corny and cheap.
philosopher – at last someone on YWN who thinks normally, especially the last sentence.
1. It is a mitzva to do a kiddush Hashem. See also Tanna d’bei Eliahu 26 that someone who cheats a goy will eventually cheat a Jew Be’er HaGola CM 348:5 that people who did this lost everything whereas those who were straight with goyim prosper, and He’emek Devar Intro. to Sefer Bereisheet that the Avot were called yesharim because they were even straight with the lowliest idolaters.
2/ Actually it was geneiva albeit by shogeg as the Jewish man simply picked it up thinking that it belonged to a relative.
3. The article did not say that the couple who lost the money are Arabs. Not all Moslems are Arabs. However, I see no difference.
4. As there are issues today between Jews and Moslems the Jewish man’s statement was understandable.
Obviously the story implies that the fellow said he had $78k while there was $88k.
To those of you who missed it
The kiddish Hashem is two fold
A. That he returned the extra $10,000 that the fellow did not know he had.
B. Even after returning it, he refused the $10,000 newly found money as a reward.
Of course he could not take the whole think when he was fingered as the person who took it. He surely would have been arrested and made a chilly hashem
I have to agree with tschoumi – who carries that much cash with them and why? And I would add, how is it that he did not even know the correct amount? And how can anyone be sure that he was really the true owner and not an imposter who (for example) heard about the lost money and swooped down to take it?
And I would ask, what if the money was “dirty” – would the one who gave it back (instead of turning it over to the police) now be complicit in a crime?
Gredsoops- What a great story! Please share where it comes from…….
Amazing because taus accum is mutar lechatchila and Rav shimon would never be poor again. Mind blowing really…..
Further to my previous post, there was a TV show called “Punked” where unsuspecting victims were the target of (nasty) pranks.
In one case, an actress dressed as a prostitute walked down the street pretending to not notice when she dropped a bundle of money on the street as she was just about to turn the corner into an alley.
So some guy sees this, picks up the money, turns the corner into the alley holding out the money in front of him with an oustretched arm to return it, when suddenly from a grabage can up pops and actor dressed as a cop and takes a (conspicuous) flash photo exactly at that moment.
And he pretends to arrest the guy for soliciting a prostitute, with such photo as evidence.
So that was just a prank. But with minor changes it could have been a “frame up” for real.
I would have taken the $10,000 ( since he offered) and distributed to Jewish Families in need in time for the Holy days.
Win WIn. Kiddush Hashem AND Tzdaka. ( Maybe a Tax Receipt :)) another win.
For the ones saying its “obvious” it was “taken” etc., the very fact that they offered a $10k reward indicates otherwise.
In any case, that entire speech is kind of strange. But give credit where credit is due, it is indeed a kiddush Hashem, as many others would gave tempted to get away with it!!
GAON, I didn’t mean he took the bag because he wanted to steal it. It for sure could’ve been a mistake. But it’s a no brainer that he would HAVE to give back the money if people knew he took the bag. It’s childish to make this into a newsworthy story and certainly to be busy what a big “Kiddush Hashem” it is. And when Jews say in such instances what good people we are that we give back money…it’s really cringe worthy. Actions speak louder than words; if a religious Jew act properly there’s no reason to “explain” what wonderful people we Jews are…
Philosopher,
Rav Aharon Feldman disagrees with you
The Moslem thought he only lost $78K. By telling him that it was actually $88 he did a kiddush Hashem. In addition, he refused a $10K reward.
correction: $88K
my opinion is this could very well be a made-up story to garner publicity
Muslims are not baalei avoda zora, unlike Christians who are. So this lchora it is muttar to return
A, my opinion is that you could be made up.
Slominer, the Arab to whom Shimon ben Shatach returned the precious stone was an idolator (Islam was not yet invented). It is a kiddush Hashem to return it to anyone, especially as that is the norm. As for the Xtians, according to many opinions a”z b’shituf is permitted to bnei Noach. There is a Tosafot on this (Bechorot 2b) as well as a Meiri (Baba Kama 37b) which Rav Kook says (Igorot haRaya v. 1 p. 99) is the halacha. Fr a wider dsicussion see <A Halachic View of the Non-Jew by Rav Nachum Rabinovich on Tradition Archive/