DEAR ABBY: I fully agree with your response to the woman of good character in Anchorage, Alaska, who had bought a secondhand car and found $42 in the glove compartment. Her husband said that inasmuch as they had purchased the car "as is," she should keep the $42. You told her to return it.
Your advice was similar to the story told by Rabbi Simeon, whose students bought a donkey from a merchant to assist their teacher in his livelihood of selling flax. His students found a costly pearl attached to the neck of the donkey, and they said, "Rabbi, you will not have to labor any more -- we found this precious gem on the donkey!"
Rabbi Simeon responded, "Does the seller know of this pearl?" They answered, "No."
The sage then said, "I bought a donkey, not a pearl." The jewel was returned.
As a rabbi concerned that people don't simply tell themselves, "Business is business," I am pleased you chose to print that woman's letter.
The great writer Macaulay wrote: "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out." -- RABBI GEOFFREY BOTNICK, WILMETTE, ILL.