Bava Metzia 30B

לא יהיה בך אביון״⁠ – שלך קודם לשל כל אדם,

there should be no needy among you” (Deuteronomy 15:4). This verse can be understood as a command, indicating that it is incumbent upon each individual to ensure that he will not become needy. Therefore, your assets take precedence over the assets of any other person.

אלא לזקן ואינה לפי כבודו.

The Talmud concludes: Rather, the verse is necessary to derive the exemption from returning the lost item in the case where he was an elderly person and it is not in keeping with his dignity to tend to the item.

אמר רבה: הכישה ⁠– חייב בה. אביי הוה יתיב קמיה דרבה, חזא להנך עיזי דקיימו, שקל קלא ושדא בהו. אמר ליה: איחייבת בהו, קום אהדרינהו.

Rabba says: If there was a lost animal and the elderly person began the process of returning it, e.g., if he struck it even once to guide it in a certain direction, he is obligated to tend to it and return it. The Talmud relates: Abaye was sitting before Rabba and saw these goats standing nearby. He picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at them, causing them to move. Rabba said to him: You have thereby obligated yourself to return them. Arise and return them to their owner.

איבעיא להו: דרכו להחזיר בשדה, ואין דרכו להחזיר בעיר, מהו? מי אמרינן השבה מעליא בעינן, וכיון דלאו דרכיה להחזיר בעיר ⁠– לא לחייב? או דלמא בשדה מיהת הוא דאיחייב ליה, וכיון דאיחייב עליה בשדה ⁠– איחייב ליה בעיר? תיקו.

A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: In a case of a person for whom it is his typical manner to return an item of that type in the field, where there are fewer onlookers, but it is not his typical manner to return an item of that type in the city, what is the halakha? Do we say that for one to be obligated to return a lost item we need an unequivocal obligation to return it that applies in all cases, and since it is not his typical manner to return an item of that sort in the city, let him not be obligated to return such an item at all? Or perhaps, he is obligated in any event to return the item in the field, and once he is obligated to return it in the field, he is also obligated in the city. The Talmud concludes: The dilemma should stand unresolved.