אור החיים — לא תראה את שור אחיך... השב תשיבם

Q — What deeper meaning does Or HaChaim find in the mitzvah of returning a lost object (hashavat aveidah)?

A — He reads it as alluding to returning a different kind of lost object — restoring the estranged ('הנדחים') to beneath the wings of the Shechinah. The parsha details the obligation of rebuke (תוכחה) that the righteous ('בני אל חי, צדיקי עולם') must perform for God's people. These tzaddikim, for their exalted level, are called 'brothers' (אחיך) to God — a title reserved for those especially close and cleaving to Him, like Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. The doubled 'השב תשיבם' teaches that one first returns the lost person to the good path, and only then, ultimately, to our Father in Heaven — the path back to God passes first through doing good.