It is a commandment of the Torah to return lost objects to the rightful owner, even if he is our enemy.
There is a beautiful story that I heard from my teacher Shimona Tzukernik, that illustrates this concept in a very deep way.
There was a young woman that had just finished her military service in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). She had gone through war and had lost many friends. Like many young Israelis do after their service she decided to go to India as a backpacker to find answers to questions she hadn’t been able to get. She went into an ashram and began to live a different life style. Her parents were very worried and tried everything to bring their daughter back home. Years passed and this girl was ready to be converted into her new found faith. Just then she received a telegram( no emails on those days) from her parents informing her that the grandmother was very sick and she should come and say goodby to her. Since she loved her grandmother very much she went back to Israel. After the grandmother passed away she was ready to go back to India and pursue her conversion. Before going to the airport she walked inside a Synagogue with her father and the Rabbi was talking on the importance of returning lost objects. She got very upset and said “this is why I don’t believe in Judaism! This is a religion full of laws were we have to be told everything! My Guru in India doesn’t need to be told anything, he knows.”
She went back and the day she was going to be converted, the guru took them up a mountain. Someone had dropped a wallet and the guru picked it up an put it in his pocket. When he asked her to make her vows, she asked him: “I just want to know something before I commit, are you planning to return the wallet to its rightful owner?” The guru answered: ” why would I? The forces of the universe have given me the wallet as a gift.” That is when she realized that she had to go back to Israel and return something lost to H”S, that lost thing was her.
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