Protecting Life On Shabbat

 

Since Shabbat is meant to be a day of rest and enjoyment, we might think that we would be especially lenient in allowing people to relieve illness and discomfort on Shabbat.  Surprisingly, this is not always true.  Medical treatment for minor discomfort is forbidden on Shabbat, even when no forbidden labor is involved.  Only when there is significant suffering do we allow treatment - and in that case we do allow special leniencies.

 

The reason for this restriction is that the Sages were afraid that preoccupation with medical treatment would lead to preparing medicines - which in ancient times usually involved grinding the preparation, which is a Torah prohibition (Shabbat 53b).

 

The restriction on healing on Shabbat connects with many themes we have previously discussed.

 

BECOMING PREOCCUPIED WITH AFFLICTIONS

 

In chapter 72, we mentioned that visiting the sick was "barely permitted" on Shabbat.  In fact, the Talmud concludes that we MAY visit the sick, but the message is that Shabbat is not meant to be a day when we become preoccupied with other people's suffering.  Although Judaism places an immense emphasis on such empathy, the ideal time for this identification is during the six weekdays.

 

A corollary of this concern is that praying for the sick in the usual way is forbidden.  On Shabbat we wish for a speedy recovery for the ill using an oblique expression: "It is Shabbat, [a day of rest] from crying, and His healing is near" (Shabbat 12b).  This wording accords with the prohibition on making mundane requests on Shabbat (see chapter 76) - a prohibition meant to keep us from being absorbed with our misfortunes.

 

Shabbat is not meant to be a day when we are preoccupied with our problems.  If we are really suffering from a headache, then taking medicine is the best way to keep us from being preoccupied with our health.  But in the case of a relatively minor discomfort, which can be disregarded, the spirit of Shabbat is best maintained by overlooking it.

 

REPAIR OF HUMAN BEINGS

 

In chapter 86, we mentioned that conversions are not performed on Shabbat; the immersion is like "fixing" the convert.  Healing, though it is a much more minor transformation, also shares a bit of this character, and could be viewed as fixing the patient - contrary to the spirit of the Shabbat.  (See Eglei Tal Tochen 36:7.)

 

A DAY OF REST - NOT OF PANIC

 

In chapter 85, we learned that in the case of a fire, even normally permissible types of carrying may be restricted.  This is because our Sages recognized that "adam bahul al mamono" - a man gets into a panic over [the loss of] his possessions.  His preoccupation with his property may lead him to forget the Sabbath day.

 

Likewise, a person can easily get into a panic over his health; excessive preoccupation with our well-being could lead us to forget the Sabbath day and prepare medication in a forbidden way (Rif).

 

We have seen three cases where the consideration of "panic" leads us to make a legal adjustment: a person's panic over a deceased family member or over loss of possessions in a fire (chapter 85), and panic to relieve discomfort in our chapter.  All of these relate specifically to the laws of Shabbat.  In fact, almost all the cases where the factor of panic is mentioned in halakha are in connection with Shabbat.  (One exception - see SA YD 313:6.) 

 

Perhaps the fact that the halakhic concern with panic is focused on Shabbat hints that agitation really causes TWO problems on Shabbat.  First of all, since the preoccupation may cause us to forget the Shabbat, it may cause us to do forbidden melakha.  Secondly, the panic per se distracts us from the atmosphere of Shabbat, even if it doesn't lead to transgression.  Shabbat is a day of peace, not of agitation.

 

CHAPTER 92 - DANGER TO LIFE

 

"TO LIVE BY THEM"

 

The sanctity of life is a momentous value in Torah law.  With few exceptions, all transgressions are permitted in the case of significant danger to life, even if the danger is not certain.  This is learned from the verse, "Keep My laws and My statutes, which a man will keep and live by them - I am God"  (Vayikra 18:5).  God gives us His mitzvot to live by them - not to die by them (Yoma 85b).

 

However, there are three transgressions for which a Jew must give his life rather than transgress:

 

1.  A person must give up his life rather than deny the Torah.  Accepting another religion, or even denying the Torah without explicitly acknowledging some other worship, empties our life of all its meaning and content.  It is far better to sacrifice our lives than to sacrifice our souls.

 

2.  A person must sacrifice his life rather than voluntarily engage in the most severe forbidden sexual relations - in particular, incestuous, adulterous or male homosexual intercourse.

 

3.  Bloodshed is not permissible even in the face of danger.  Our Sages ask (Yoma 82b), who says that your blood is redder than your fellow's?  Of course, this does not apply to self-defense, or to war where every enemy soldier is an aggressor.

 

FORBIDDEN RELATIONS

 

It is not hard to understand why we prefer martyrdom to apostasy.  The Torah says that we should live by the mitzvot and not die by them, but we certainly don't want to live without them!  We intuitively understand that all value systems that purport to give meaning to life beyond the here-and-now demand martyrdom.

 

Likewise, we can easily see why we don't seek to save ourselves by bloodshed.  The whole reason we suspend the mitzvot in the face of danger is because of the sanctity we attach to human life; it would be paradoxical to allow bloodshed because of this sanctity!  Indeed, the Talmud says that the rule that forbids bloodshed to save life can be inferred from plain logic (Yoma 82b).

 

But what is special about forbidden sexual relations? Why are these prohibitions not suspended in the face of danger?

 

Judaism does not view sexual intercourse as merely a superficial act.  Rather, these relations imply a profound and intense spiritual connection between the participants.  A man, in particular, is able to reach the stage of consummating relations only through a deep emotional connection with the object of his desire - a bond which may be positive or negative, holy or profane.  (All of the most severe sexual prohibitions involve male penetration.)  And the seed that he is able to transmit through this act is connected to him in an intensely personal way, not only spiritually but even biologically - it contains a genetic blueprint that is almost certainly unique to him.

 

But even the more passive partner, if he or she is a willing participant in the act, becomes inevitably entwined in this overwhelming psychic attachment.  In the Jewish lexicon, "casual sex" is a contradiction in terms.  Sexual relations are never casual; they inherently touch a human's innermost self, spiritually and psychologically.  This is what gives them their immense power for sanctity when they are carried out with the proper spirit of holiness, and what makes them fit as the vehicle for bringing new souls into the world.

 

When we eat forbidden foods or enters forbidden places in order to save a life, we are practically unaffected by our act.  Casual eating may not be a Jewish ideal, but it is certainly a possibility.  It's almost as if no transgression took place at all.  But this detachment is never possible with forbidden sexual relations.  Likewise, sometimes we can carry out an act with no intention whatsoever, by mere happenstance - like turning on a light by accidentally brushing against the wall.  The Talmud says that this level of detachment does not exist with sexual relations (Sanhedrin 62b).

 

In general, overlooking mitzvot in order to save a life is permissible precisely because the duress detaches us from the negative aspects of our act, which are overwhelmed by the overriding obligation to save a life.  But such detachment is impossible in the case of voluntary forbidden relations, and they are not permitted in case of danger.

 

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

 

The rule that danger to life overrides most Torah prohibitions applies only when the danger is physical.  But when the danger is spiritual, when the purpose of the duress is precisely to cause us to violate the Torah, then the Jew must sacrifice his life rather than transgress even a minor prohibition, in some cases even a custom.

 

For instance, if Jews are compelled on pain of death to work for a wicked non-Jew on Shabbat, because of the oppressor's great need for labor, then even the severe prohibition of Shabbat is expended.  But in a place where Jewish men have a custom to wear beards, and the authorities order specifically Jews to shave their beards in order to eliminate this sign of distinction, then the men are forbidden to give up this custom in the face of persecution.

 

Rav Shlomo Zevin writes that an important rabbinical dispute surrounded this very question.  In 1850 the Polish authorities ordered all Jewish men to remove their beards.  The first Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yitzchak Meir, and especially Rav Avraham of Tschekinov, thought that the true intent of the order was to weaken the Jewish religion, and ruled that it was forbidden to obey.  However, Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (the Kotzker Rebbe) was of the opinion that it was forbidden for Jews to endanger themselves because of their beards, and that if accosted they should agree to remove them. Evidently, the Kotzker Rebbe thought that the intent was to give the Jews a more modern appearance, without any intention to weaken their adherence to Torah.  (Yet, even the Kotzker Rebbe didn't advocate that all of the Jewish men immediately remove their beards; apparently it was necessary to shave only in case of present danger.  He didn't remove his own.)

 

Most men refused to obey the order, and eventually the authorities rescinded it (Sippurei Chasidim Torah 288).

 

SAVING LIFE ON SHABBAT

 

Saving life prevails over virtually all mitzvot.  Even so, there is special importance to the fact that it prevails over the Shabbat.  In addition to the exhortation to live by the mitzvot and not to die by them, which applies to all mitzvot, our Sages found six distinct sources which teach us that Shabbat prohibitions are suspended in the case of danger to life (Yoma 85a-b)!

 

It seems that this profusion of sources comes to emphasize that there is some special connection between Shabbat and preservation of life.  Indeed, many authorities consider that whereas other prohibitions are merely SUSPENDED in the face of danger (dechuya), Shabbat is actually WAIVED (hutra).  (See MB 328:39.)  Rav Ganzfried seems to imply this when he rules that for a wounded person we may do "anything we normally do during the week" (se'if 4).

 

What is the special connection between Shabbat and saving life?  Rav Nachman of Breslav explains that it is because Shabbat draws all its meaning from the Jewish people who observe it.  The Shabbat is called a gift given to the Jewish people (this is one of the reasons the Talmud gives for suspending it in face of danger), and is also called the bride of Israel.  The death of a Jew thus diminishes the splendor of Shabbat no less than does the performance of melakha.  Rav Nachman goes so far as to say the death of a Jew is itself a "chilul Shabbat" - a desecration of the Sabbath! "Desecration" means literally a diminishment of the sacred, and that is what occurs when Israel is less able to sanctify the Shabbat because of a death (Likutei Halakhot Shabbat 7:11).

 

This is also connected to the reason mentioned by Rav Ganzfried in se'if 10: "Desecrate one Shabbat for him, so that he may keep many Shabbatot."  (This is another of the six reasons mentioned in the Talmud.)  If "keeping" Shabbat meant only refraining from work, then there is no reason to desecrate Shabbat now so as not to desecrate it later.  But keeping Shabbat is itself the source of the holiness of the Shabbat; therefore, by saving a Jewish life we are ultimately adding sanctity to the Sabbath day - not removing it.

 

This also explains why we permit work on Shabbat to save a Jew from SPIRITUAL danger, as Rav Ganzfried explains in se'if 10.  According to Rav Nachman's reasoning, a Jew who denies the Shabbat is also a desecration of the Shabbat.  This danger also demands that we diminish the holiness of Shabbat a bit in order to augment it greatly.

 

(This is closely related to what we wrote in chapter 88 - that Shabbat is dependent on the weekdays.  There also we referred to the metaphor of bride and groom.)

 

CHAPTER 93 - GIVING BIRTH ON SHABBAT

 

The rules regarding care of a birthing mother on Shabbat involve a special leniency.  The Talmud says that we may light a lamp for her, even if she is blind!  The reason is that she will have peace of mind knowing that those caring for her will be able to find anything they need (Shabbat 128b, SA OC 330:1).

 

The idea that "peace of mind" is life-saving is mentioned in halakha only in connection with a birthing mother.  When a woman gives birth, she experiences a unique level of sensitivity and concern for her own life (Tosafot).  Perhaps this is because she is uniquely aware of the awesome dependence of the newborn on her.  Very often, we fully appreciate our own worth only when we are aware of how much others are dependent on us.