Adapted from: The Power of a Vort by Rabbi Yissocher Frand

לֹא תִרְאֶה אֶת שׁוֹר אָחִיךָ אוֹ אֶת שֵׂיוֹ נִדָּחִים וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ מֵהֶם הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם לְאָחִיךָ. …
וְכֵן תַּעֲשֶׂה לְכָל אֲבֵדַת אָחִיךָ אֲשֶׁר תֹּאבַד מִמֶּנּוּ וּמְצָאתָהּ לֹא תוּכַל לְהִתְעַלֵּם
You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep or goat cast off, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely return them to your brother…and so shall you do for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him and you find it; you shall not hide yourself (22:1,3).

The Torah is generally extremely economical in choosing its words. Every word that doesn’t serve an absolute purpose is expounded by Chazal. It’s surprising, therefore, to find the same word appear five times — seemingly redundantly — in three verses regarding the mitzvah of hashavas aveidah (returning a lost object): achicha, your brother. When we read the pesukim, it seems obvious that the Torah could have used pronouns or no word at all. To give one example, the first of the pesukim could have ended with hasheiv t’shiveim lo, you shall surely return them to him. Or even better, why not skip that last word altogether, and just say, “You shall surely return them”?

Rav Mattisyahu Solomon provides a beautiful answer based on a principle he develops in Parashas Vayeitzei.

When Lavan and Yaakov decide to erect a monument to serve as a concrete reminder of their non-aggression pact, the Torah states (Bereishis 31:46): Vayomer Yaakov l’echov liktu avanim, Yaakov said to his brothers, “Gather stones”. Who are Yaakov’s “brothers”? Yaakov had only one brother, Eisav, and he certainly wasn’t coming to Yaakov’s aid at this point!

Rashi answers that this refers to his sons, who are referred to as brothers because they were “brothers in arms.” When Lavan initially pursued Yaakov and seemed set to attack him, his children were ready to join Yaakov in defending the family. When a person is willing to risk his life for someone he loves, the Torah expresses that relationship as achvah, brotherhood.

The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 74:14) teaches that because they were ready to don the same “uniform,” they became known as brothers. In Lashon Kodesh, everything is defined by its essence. The essence of brotherhood is not the exact biological relationship, but by the kinship of emotions and of purpose that a bond creates. If the same bond exists between father and son, that, too, is called brotherhood.

When it comes to hashavas aveidah, says Rav Mattisyahu, the Torah is teaching us that the mitzvah is not to merely return a lost object to its owner, but that we should care about the owner of the object as we do for a brother.

The last three words of the parashah of hashavas aveidah are: lo suchal l’hisalem, which, translated literally, means, “You cannot look away.” Rav Mattisyahu points out that this expression is atypical. Normally, the Torah would say, “You are not allowed to look away.” Why does the Torah say, “You cannot look away?”

The answer is that this goes to the basic root of the mitzvah. The point is not to say, “I would love to walk away, but what can I do, the Torah requires me to take care of my friend’s object.” The point is that when you see something that belongs to your friend, you should feel, I CAN’T walk away. I cannot possibly turn a blind eye when my brother is missing something and is suffering from the loss!