Pikuach Nefesh: Saving a Life- Discussion Questions
Mishna, Sanhedrin 4:5
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| Therefore man was created singly, to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul of Israel, Scripture accounts it as if he had destroyed a full world; and whoever saves one soul of Israel, Scripture accounts it as if he had saved a full world. |
לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי ללמדך שכל המאבד נפש אחד מישראל מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו איבד עולם מלא
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-This principle of infinite value of every human being conflicts with notions of utilitarianism, whcih suggests that we should provide the greatest good for the greatest number, even if some people suffer. What policy problems might arise from embracing the principle of infinite value?
-Given limited resources, how would you go about setting priorities for whom to help?
Deuteronomy 4:9
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| But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children's children. [JPS translation] |
רק השמר לך שמר נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר רא עיניך פן יסר מלבבך כל ימי חייך והדעתם לבניך ולבני בניך. רַק הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ וּשְׁמֹר נַפְשְׁךָ מְאֹד פֶּן תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ וּפֶן יָסוּרוּ מִלְּבָבְךָ כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ וְהוֹדַעְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְלִבְנֵי בָנֶיךָ:
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What power dynamics are at play?
3. What social justice themes emerge from this text?
Leviticus 19:16
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Original |
| You shall not be a tale-bearer among your people; you shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor; I am Adonai. [translation by AJWS] |
לֹא־תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל־דַּם רֵעֶךָ אֲנִי ה':
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-What is the nature of the obligation this verse articulates?
-What does the use of the term "neighbor" imply? Elsewhere in Jewish law, our obligations are sometmes to our "brother" or to "the stranger who lives among us"- should this obligation draw distinctions based on social or geographic proximity?
-The Torah uses a number of different "stock characters" to discuss various obligations: brother, neighbor, stranger. What might be the implications of using neighbor here?
Rambam, Laws of the Murderer and Protecting Life 11:4
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| Both the roof and any other object of potential danger, by which it is likely that a person could be fatally injured, such a well or a pit on his property, whether or not there is water in it, require that the owner build a barrier at least ten handbreadths high or make a cover for it so that no one will fall in and die. And so regarding any situation which has mortal danger, one has a positive commandment to remove the danger and guard it and be very careful with it as it says, "Be careful" and "Guard your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:9) and if one does not remove it but leaves those obstacles allowing potential danger, one transgresses a positive commandment and negates a negative commandment “Thou shall not spill blood.” [AJWS translation] |
אחד הגג ואחד כל דבר שיש בו סכנה וראוי שיכשל בו אדם וימות כגון שהיתה לו באר או בור בחצירו בין שיש בהן מים בין שאין בהן מים חייב לעשות להן חוליה גבוהה עשרה טפחים או לעשות לה כסוי כדי שלא יפול בה אדם וימות. וכן כל ג מכשול שיש בו סכנת נפשות מצות עשה להסירו ולהשמר ממנו ולהזהר בדבר יפה יפה שנ' (דברים ד' ט') השמר לך ושמור נפשך, ואם לא הסיר, והניח המכשולות המביאין לידי סכנה, ביטל מצות עשה ועבר על לא תשים דמים.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What are dangers that we know about that we have not yet succeeding in protecting people from - domestically and internationally?
2. How can we do a better of job ensuring that people stop dying preventable deaths?
3. In what ways do we need government to help us with this?
Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 82a
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| Nothing stands before [the duty of] saving life except for idolatry, incest and murder. [AJWS translation] |
שאין לך דבר שעומד בפני פקוח נפש חוץ מעבודה זרה וגילוי עריות ושפיכות דמים.
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-Why make exception for these three particular things?
Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 8:3
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| You are commanded to give the poor person according to the poor person’s needs. If the poor has no clothing, the poor should be clothed. If the poor has no household furnishings, these should be bought for the poor. …As it is stated in Scripture, “You must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs.” (Deuteronomy 15:8.) You are thus obligated to support the person’s needs; you are not, however, obligated to make the person wealthy. |
הנודר צדקה ולא ידע כמה נדר יתן עד שיאמר לא לכך נתכוונתי.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
What the text means:
• What is this text saying?
• How is “need” defined?
• What does it mean to “lend him sufficient for whatever he needs.”?
• How is “wealth” defined?
• According to the text, who defines need/wealth?
Rambam, Laws of the Murderer and Protecting Life 1:14
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| Whenever a person can save another person’s life but fails to do so, he transgresses a negative commandment, as Leviticus 19:16 states: “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” Similarly, [this commandment applies] when a person sees a colleague drowning at sea or being attacked by robbers or a wild animal, and he can save him himself or can hire others to save him and does not. Similarly, [it applies] when he hears [others] conspiring to harm a colleague or planning a snare for him, and he does not inform him and notify him [of the danger]. And similarly this is true if he knows of others scheming to harm a friend and can appease the conspirator and prevent him from carrying out the plot and does not, and all things in this vein, the one who does these things transgresses the commandment of "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor." [AJWS translation] |
כל היכול להציל ולא הציל עובר על (ויקרא י"ט ,ט"ז) לא תעמוד על דם רעך, וכן הרואה את חבירו טובע בים או ליסטים באים עליו או חיה רעה באה עליו ויכול להצילו הוא בעצמו או שישכור אחרים להצילו ולא הציל, או ששמע גוים או מוסרים מחשבים עליו רעה או טומנין לו פח ולא גלה אוזן חבירו והודיעו, או שידע בגוי או באנס שהוא קובל על חבירו ויכול לפייסו בגלל חבירו ולהסיר מה שבלבו ולא פייסו, וכל כיוצא בדברים אלו, העושה אותם עובר על לא תעמוד על דם רעך.
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-Why does Rambam list so many examples? Do the individual examples have different connotations?
-How do each of the examples listed by the Rambam shape the nature and extent of our obligation to save a life?
Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 7:3
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| You are commanded to provide the needy with whatever they lack. If they lack clothing, you must clothe them. If they lack household goods, you must provide them...You are commanded to fulfill all of their needs, though not required to make them wealthy. |
לפי מה שחסר העני אתה מצווה ליתן לו, אם אין לו כסות מכסים אותו, אם אין לו כלי בית קונין לו, אם אין לו אשה משיאין אותו, ואם היתה אשה משיאין אותה לאיש, אפילו היה דרכו של זה העני לרכוב על הסוס ועבד רץ לפניו והעני וירד מנכסיו קונין לו סוס לרכוב עליו ועבד לרוץ לפניו שנאמר די מחסורו אשר יחסר לו, ומצווה אתה להשלים חסרונו ואין אתה מצווה לעשרו.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Why is this obligation necessary?
2. How do we determine the limit of "fulfilling all of their needs" without making them wealthy?
Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 49B
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| Our Sages taught: Gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) is greater than tzedakah in three ways: Acts of tzedakah involve only one’s money – gemilut chasadim can involve both money or one’s personal service. Tzedakah can be given only to the poor – gemilut chasadim can be done both for the rich and for the poor. Tzedakah can be given only to the living – gemilut chasadim can be done both for the living and the dead. [AJWS translation] |
תנו רבנן: בשלשה דברים גדולה גמילות חסדים יותר מן הצדקה, צדקה - בממונו, גמילות חסדים - בין בגופו בין בממונו. צדקה - לעניים, גמילות חסדים - בין לעניים בין לעשירים. צדקה - לחיים, גמילות חסדים - בין לחיים בין למתים.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. In what ways can acts of lovingkindness be done for the wealthy?
2. How can we add lovingkindness to our tzedakah?
3. How can we add lovingkindness to our foreign assistance policies? to our domestic policies?
Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b
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| Whoever can prevent his household from committing a sin but does not, is responsible for the sins of his household; if he can prevent the people of his city, he is responsible for the sins of his city; if the whole world, he is responsible for the sins of the whole world. [AJWS translation] |
כל מי שאפשר למחות לאנשי ביתו ולא מיחה - נתפס על אנשי ביתו, באנשי עירו - נתפס על אנשי עירו, בכל העולם כולו - נתפס על כל העולם כולו.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What power dynamics are at play?
3. How does one go about preventing others from committing a sin? What does this mean in a social justice context?
Abe Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case (California, Univ of California Press 1964), pp. xxvii-xxix
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In the middle of a cold night, thirty-eight people refused the risk of being stabbed or getting involved by answering a cry for help of a person they could not see. Is that a greater mystery, a greater offense, than that by light of day thousands on a single street withhold help to suffering people, when it would cost them virtually nothing and put them in no peril, even though they see their faces and sores? Are the people who turned away that one night in Queens, each in a separate decision, any more immoral or indecent or cowardly because there happened to be thirty-eight, than if there were just one of them? Does God judge by the individual or by head count? And what if we hear the scream but cannot see the screamer? Of all questions about silent witnesses, to me this is the most important. Suppose the screamer is not downstairs but around the corner. Surely somebody else is closer, so we don't have to run out, do we? What is the accepted distance for hearing but not moving—two flights down, five, one block, two blocks, three? Suppose you know people are screaming under persecution—not discrimination but persecution, as in imprisonment, torture, genocide, forced starvation—for their race or their religion. You have seen the pictures of African children with their bellies distended: our own government, even this government, defines this as a genocide. You know they scream, but they are not within sight and you cannot reach out and touch them, nor are you allowed to visit them. But the screams are piercing. How far away do you have to be to forgive yourself for not doing whatever is in your power to do: stop doing business with the torturer, or just speak up for them, write a letter, join a human rights group, go to shul and pray for the rescue of the persecuted and the damnation of the persecutors, give money, do something. Three stories up, a thousand miles, ten thousand miles, from here to Queens, or from here to Sudan and Chad for victims of genocide anywhere? How far is silence from a place of safety acceptable without detesting yourself as we detest the thirty-eight? Tell me, is there any question more important than this?
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What is the phenomenon that the author of this text is criticizing?
2. What is he asking of us? Does it seem reasonable to you?
3. What social justice themes emerge from this text?
Deuteronomy 15:7-8
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| “If there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he is lacking.” |
כִּי יִהְיֶה בְךָ אֶבְיוֹן מֵאַחַד אַחֶיךָ בְּאַחַד שְׁעָרֶיךָ בְּאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ לֹא תְאַמֵּץ אֶת לְבָבְךָ וְלֹא תִקְפֹּץ אֶת יָדְךָ מֵאָחִיךָ הָאֶבְיוֹן כִּי פָתֹחַ תִּפְתַּח אֶת יָדְךָ לוֹ וְהַעֲבֵט תַּעֲבִיטֶנּוּ דֵּי מַחְסֹרוֹ אֲשֶׁר יֶחְסַר לוֹ
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What is God commanding us to do here?
2. What does it mean to “harden your heart” and “shut your hand”?
3. Is it clear, from the text, what specific behaviors on our part would fulfill this commandment? Is it clear what qualifies someone as a “needy kinsman”?
Deuteronomy 15: 7-11
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| If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs. Beware lest you harbor the base thought, "The seventh year, the year of remission, is approaching," so that you are mean to your needy kinsman and give him nothing. He will cry out ot the Lord against you, and you will incur no guilt. Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the Lord your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings. [JPS] |
כִּי יִהְיֶה בְךָ אֶבְיוֹן מֵאַחַד אַחֶיךָ בְּאַחַד שְׁעָרֶיךָ בְּאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ לֹא תְאַמֵּץ אֶת לְבָבְךָ וְלֹא תִקְפֹּץ אֶת יָדְךָ מֵאָחִיךָ הָאֶבְיוֹן: כִּי פָתֹחַ תִּפְתַּח אֶת יָדְךָ לוֹ וְהַעֲבֵט תַּעֲבִיטֶנּוּ דֵּי מַחְסֹרוֹ אֲשֶׁר יֶחְסַר לוֹ: הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן יִהְיֶה דָבָר עִם לְבָבְךָ בְלִיַּעַל לֵאמֹר קָרְבָה שְׁנַת הַשֶּׁבַע שְׁנַת הַשְּׁמִטָּה וְרָעָה עֵינְךָ בְּאָחִיךָ הָאֶבְיוֹן וְלֹא תִתֵּן לוֹ וְקָרָא עָלֶיךָ אֶל יְקֹוָק וְהָיָה בְךָ חֵטְא: נָתוֹן תִּתֵּן לוֹ וְלֹא יֵרַע לְבָבְךָ בְּתִתְּךָ לוֹ כִּי בִּגְלַל הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה יְבָרֶכְךָ יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל מַעֲשֶׂךָ וּבְכֹל מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ: (יא) כִּי לֹא יֶחְדַּל אֶבְיוֹן מִקֶּרֶב הָאָרֶץ עַל כֵּן אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ לֵאמֹר פָּתֹחַ תִּפְתַּח אֶת יָדְךָ לְאָחִיךָ לַעֲנִיֶּךָ וּלְאֶבְיֹנְךָ בְּאַרְצֶךָ: ס
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Suggested Discussion Questions
1) How do you think G-d might ‘bless people in their work’ for giving to the poor?
2) Traditional Jews believe that all texts appear in the bible for a reason. If so, why are we told, “there will never cease to be needy ones in your land?”
3) Do you believe that we can ever overcome human needs? If not, then what is the point in working on it?
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