Ben Masada
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THE PARADOX OF PICHUACH NEPHESH
According to Leviticus 19:16, "We must not stand by idly when our neighbor's life is at stake." From this text, the concept of Pichuach Nephesh was developed. Even if the day is the Shabbat we are expected to suspend the strictness of its observance to save one's life or the life of another. BTW, it goes for any of the other commandments, as life in Judaism renders it obsolete when a life must be saved.
When Mattathias, the father of the Maccabees rose against the Greeks, he ran away to the mountains with a small army, and would refuse to fight the Greeks of Antiochus IV during the Shabbat. As they were being killed by the thousands, the Hassideans, a very zealous group among them decided to appeal for the concept of Pichuach Nephesh, and their fortune was changed from vanquished to conquerors of their own Land of Israel. (I Mac. 2:15-42)
Some of our Tzadikim are of the opinion that in case of apostasy Pichuach Nephesh should not apply. IMHO, even in the case of temporary apostasy, Pichuach Nephesh ought to be applied to. Some scholars, among them, Carmonly, Geiger and Munk were of the opinion that Moses Maimonides suffered a temporary apostasy to Islam while he got ready to escape to Acco in Israel, where he stated at his arrival that "He had been rescued from apostasy." Rescued, he said, not saved. It means that he had used the concept of Pichuach Nephesh for a short time. ("Guide for the Perplexed," p.4)
Anuah Sadat must have read about how we are so strict in the observance of the Shabbat that, notwithstanding Pichuach Nephesh, he invaded Israel on our very Yom Kippur day, probably certain that he would definitely succeed to push the Jews into the sea in 1973. We, hungry and weak, in the middle of a complete fast, applied the concept of Pichuach Nephesh, and crushed his many times more powerful army than ours.
As gruesome as it might seem to be, we ought not to be too hard on our criticism of the Jewish kapos for their violent attitude on their fellow Jews, at their work for the Nazis during the Hollocaust, because, as almost due to a human natural attachment to life, they were involuntarily using Pichuach Nephesh to preserve their own lives, although, they might perhaps, have never known of such a concept. One was asked how could a Jew, work for the Nazis; the answer was that he was trying to save his life as much as the one who asked wish he could save his.
The bottom line for all the above is that life for us is more important than even God's Law. Why? Because life, in the here-and-now, is the only one we have to live. The paradox is seen in the fact that according to Psalm 119:174, "We long for salvation in the Lord, because of the delight that His Law brings." On the other hand, some times we must neutralize that Law in order to get salvation by way of Pichuach Nephesh.
Ben
According to Leviticus 19:16, "We must not stand by idly when our neighbor's life is at stake." From this text, the concept of Pichuach Nephesh was developed. Even if the day is the Shabbat we are expected to suspend the strictness of its observance to save one's life or the life of another. BTW, it goes for any of the other commandments, as life in Judaism renders it obsolete when a life must be saved.
When Mattathias, the father of the Maccabees rose against the Greeks, he ran away to the mountains with a small army, and would refuse to fight the Greeks of Antiochus IV during the Shabbat. As they were being killed by the thousands, the Hassideans, a very zealous group among them decided to appeal for the concept of Pichuach Nephesh, and their fortune was changed from vanquished to conquerors of their own Land of Israel. (I Mac. 2:15-42)
Some of our Tzadikim are of the opinion that in case of apostasy Pichuach Nephesh should not apply. IMHO, even in the case of temporary apostasy, Pichuach Nephesh ought to be applied to. Some scholars, among them, Carmonly, Geiger and Munk were of the opinion that Moses Maimonides suffered a temporary apostasy to Islam while he got ready to escape to Acco in Israel, where he stated at his arrival that "He had been rescued from apostasy." Rescued, he said, not saved. It means that he had used the concept of Pichuach Nephesh for a short time. ("Guide for the Perplexed," p.4)
Anuah Sadat must have read about how we are so strict in the observance of the Shabbat that, notwithstanding Pichuach Nephesh, he invaded Israel on our very Yom Kippur day, probably certain that he would definitely succeed to push the Jews into the sea in 1973. We, hungry and weak, in the middle of a complete fast, applied the concept of Pichuach Nephesh, and crushed his many times more powerful army than ours.
As gruesome as it might seem to be, we ought not to be too hard on our criticism of the Jewish kapos for their violent attitude on their fellow Jews, at their work for the Nazis during the Hollocaust, because, as almost due to a human natural attachment to life, they were involuntarily using Pichuach Nephesh to preserve their own lives, although, they might perhaps, have never known of such a concept. One was asked how could a Jew, work for the Nazis; the answer was that he was trying to save his life as much as the one who asked wish he could save his.
The bottom line for all the above is that life for us is more important than even God's Law. Why? Because life, in the here-and-now, is the only one we have to live. The paradox is seen in the fact that according to Psalm 119:174, "We long for salvation in the Lord, because of the delight that His Law brings." On the other hand, some times we must neutralize that Law in order to get salvation by way of Pichuach Nephesh.
Ben