[Avodah] $100,000 Check Found in Western Wall

[David Eisen]

It was reported yesterday that a 22 year old yeshiva student from
Yerushalayim found earlier this week a check in the amount of $100,000
pressed in the cracks of the Western Wall that was made out to the “Holy
Kotel” and was duly signed by a US resident. As the check was not written
“to the account of the payee only,” the check ostensibly may be endorsed and
cashed by the student. As attested by his acquaintances, this student
occasionally rummages through the stones of the Kotel and reads the notes
placed in the Wall, and that is how he found the check this week. They noted
that in addition to the personal notes, he has found cash, amounting in the
aggregate to hundreds of dollars.



The student proceeded to seek legal advice from an attorney in Haifa who
contacted a fellow attorney in the United States who successfully tracked
down the person that wrote the check. The payor confirmed that he indeed
wrote the check and as he quite wealthy, there are sufficient funds in the
bank account from which the check was drawn to cover the $100,000 payment.
The attorney promptly advised the student to turn off his cell phone and go
incognito until he withdrew the funds. As of the date of the article, the
student’s father was unable to contact his son. While the son was consulting
with the attorney who claimed that the check was the property of the finder
under applicable law, the father contacted HaRav Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rav
of the Western Wall and Holy Sites Authority, who claimed that the check
seemed to have been a donation to Kotel and was the rightful property of the
Western Wall Authority. R. Rabinowitz confirmed the report of the check
found between the stones of the Kotel and submitted the matter to a police
investigation.



See the full story in Hebrew at
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4104158,00.html and an English blurb
athttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/216802.



Many questions come to mind, including the following:



   1. In addition to seeking legal advice, did the finder seek or obtain a
   psak halacha?
   2. Is the “finder” entitled to any property rights with respect to the
   check in light of the illicit circumstances in which the check was “found.”
   I would strongly distinguish between the manner in which he obtained the
   check as opposed to finding it on the floor of the Kotel Plaza.
   3. Did the Western Wall Authority indeed acquire the check, which was
   drawn out to the Holy Kotel?
   4. What were the payor’s intentions? Surely, he could have made the
   donation directly to the Kotel had he desired.
   5. Can one even begin to consider the check as an aveida, when the payor
   seemingly placed the check deliberately into the walls, which may constitute
   an aveida l’da’at (see Sh”A H”M 261:4).
   6. Should the check indeed be deemed ownerless.
   7. Even if the check is to be considered an aveida, shouldn’t the
   halachot and similar Israeli laws of hashavat aveida require the finder to
   deliver the check to the police? With the name of the payor on the check,
   this should be tantamount to a siman muvhak, though, again, it is unclear if
   the payor retained any rights to the check or if he relinquished them either
   to the Kotel or rendered it hefker by the manner in which he chose to place
   the check.

In short, I am interested in your thoughts on what the halacha should be in
this case.


B'virkat HaTorah,

David
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