Question:
Many years ago I was a counselor in a camp in Russia. The counselors had a freezer for their use and we all brought meat and kept it there. One day I came in and saw someone feasting on my meat. When I pointed it out to him he said that everyone just put in their meat and one can take it from the freezer. I foolishly believed him and helped myself to others meat. In hindsight I realized that there is no basis to this and I would like to repay, I have no idea how much I took. Is it necessary that I get a list of the counselors and call up each one? Or can I assume that they are mochel as this was done by others.
Answer:
Hello,
Just because it was done by others doesn’t mean that those who don’t know about this interesting custom would have consented to it. Those who knew about this and agreed, ae not a problem, however regarding the other counselors, you would have to reimburse them. If you can get a list of the counselors, who will surely be mochel any value that you ate that is best. However, if this cannot be done there is another option. Calculate an amount that is more than what you might have eaten, and this amount of money should be given to a gemach which will acquire the money on behalf of whoever ‘s meat it was, they will hold the money for the person and lend it out to people so the person will get extra mitzvos with their money. For more details about this gemach see the following post. https://dinonline.org/2022/10/02/took-item-but-dont-know-who-to-return-it-to/
Best wishes
