Here’s an ethical issue and Jewish source response:

Case

Mr. Polsky was walking on the street and saw a friend of his being mugged.  He knew of a Jewish law that states that one must save someone who is in danger.  But he thought that by trying to save this person’s life, he might be putting his own life in danger.

Answer

The questions are: should a person help a friend who is being attacked?  And does the potential danger outweigh the duty, if there is one, to help that friend? 

[a] It certainly is a mitzvah to save a person in danger of dying, as it says, “You shall not stand by the blood of your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16 and Sanhedrin 73a).

[b] But there is also a mitzvah to preserve one’s own life, as it says “And you shall live by them (The Commandments)” (Leviticus 18:5).  The Talmud expands on this and explains “You shall live by them (the mitzvot) and not die by them” (Sanhedrin 74a).  Therefore, one may not sacrifice one’s life to save someone else.

The real dilemma comes into play, then, when there is definite danger to someone else and only possible danger to you.  Is the obligation to save the person or to keep yourself out of harm’s way? 

[c] The proofs from the stories in the Bible are inconclusive.  On the one hand, in the Book of Exodus, the midwives put themselves in possible danger to save Jewish babies in definitive danger (Exodus 1:16-17) when Pharaoh decrees that Jewish babies should be killed.  Similarly, Esther puts herself in possible danger to save the Jewish people from definite danger (Esther 4:8-5:1).

[d] On the other hand, God specifically tells Moses to wait until he is out of danger before returning to Egypt to save the Jewish people, who are in definite danger: “God said to Moses, ‘Go, return to Egypt, all the people who demand your life have died’” (Exodus 4:19).

[e] The Hagahot Maymaniyot, quoted by the Beth Yosef commentary on the Tur, a Jewish Law code (Choshen Mishpat 426) quotes the Jerusalem Talmud which says that in every case a person must try to save a person in danger because his danger is only a possibility while the danger of the person in distress is definite.

[f] However, the Beit Yosef is also the author of the Code of Jewish Law, the Shulchan Aruch, and never codifies this statement as a law which must be followed.  Thus, he rejects this opinion, as does Mishnah Berurah (Orach Hayyim 329), and says that one may not put him/herself in possible danger to save someone in definite danger.

[g] Based on the above, Rabbi David Ben Zimrah (Egypt, 16th century) concludes that if there is definite danger, one may not even try to save someone.  If it is possible danger, one may try if one wishes, but is not obligated.  If there is no danger, then one is obligated to save a person in danger.  Our only problem now is defining definite, possible, and no danger.  Even if a lifeguard is fully trained and experienced, there always is some danger in trying to save a drowning person.  Does this Halacha imply that the lifeguard should never try to save someone else?  It has been concluded that if the odds of putting oneself in danger are 1 in 10, then this is called a definite danger, and one may not even attempt the rescue.  If the odds are 1 in 100, then this is considered possible danger and one may try to save the person, but need not do so.  Less than 1 in 1000 odds, are not even called possible danger, and one would be obligated to save a person in danger.

Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge 2”, pgs. 28-30

Used with permission from Joel Grishaver

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Here’s another ethical issue and Jewish source response:

Case

Aunt Bertha had a hard year.  She had to borrow money from almost everyone in the family.  She owed maybe $10,000 to various family members. All of a sudden her business picked up, she began to make money again and she began to repay her debt.  Then all of a sudden she sent Debbie a check for $250 for her twelfth birthday (where usually family members got $25). Debbie was concerned. She knew about Aunt Bertha’s financial troubles.  She called Aunt Bertha to ask if the check had been made out for the right amount. Bertha told her, “I am having the best year, my dear, and I wanted to do something nice for you.” Debbie was concerned Bertha still owed thousands of dollars to members of the family.  She asked her father if she should keep the money for the sake of shalom bayit (good feelings and peace in the family) or return it and ask her to just give $25 a year until she could pay everyone back.

Answer

Aunt Bertha owed a lot of money to members of the family and still gave Debbie a too-expensive birthday gift.  Should it be returned?

[a] In the Talmud (Bava Batra 74a) Rabbi Papa and Rabbi Huna ben Joshua have an argument.  Rabbi Papa believes that the repayment of a loan is a mitzvah. Rabbi Huna believed that it is just a legal obligation.  While most opinions agrees with Rabbi Huna, the bottom line is that (1) anyone who does not pay back a loan is considered wicked, and (2) when no period is stated in the loan, one should begin repaying it after thirty days.

[b] Encouraging Aunt Bertha to pay back her loans as quickly as possible is the right thing to do.

[c] However, the Torah is also concerned with human dignity.  In the Midrash we are told: “Everytime you embarrass another person, you make God less.  Everytime you make another person feel smaller, you make God smaller in the world, because people are created in God’s image” (Genesis Rabbah 24.7).

Therefore, to try to follow both commands Debbie must find a way of refusing the overly large gift without making Aunt Bertha feel bad.

Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge”, pgs. 48-49

Used with permission from Joel Grishaver

Here’s another ethical issue and Jewish source response:

Case

Three twelve-year-old boys were seen shoplifting some candy from a local store near the synagogue just before Hebrew school.  The owner of the store, upset by the repeated robbery of his goods, walked into the synagogue and found the principal’s office.  Together they walked through the halls and found Simon, one of the boys he recognized. When confronted, Simon confessed to the crime, returned the candy that was still in his pocket and agreed to take whatever punishment would be dished out.  On the other hand, he refused to “squeal” on his two partners. The principal told Simon that revealing the names of the other two thieves was the right thing to do. Simon disagreed, saying that while he would take the punishment that he deserved, it was not honorable to get anyone else in trouble.

Answer

Does a thief have to turn in his partners in crime?

[a] Leviticus 19:16 teaches that you cannot let a neighbor be physically hurt: DO NOT STAND BY WHILE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S BLOOD IS SHED.

[b] In Deuteronomy 21:1-3 the same lesson is expanded to guarding your neighbor’s property  IF YOU SEE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S OX OR SHEEP LOST, YOU MUST NOT IGNORE IT…YOU MUST DO THE SAME THING FOR ANYTHING THAT IS YOUR NEIGHBOR’S – YOU MUST NOT REMAIN INDIFFERENT.

The Talmud, Bava Metzia 30b, makes this clear by saying: “If a person sees flood waters approaching someone else’s field, that person must make a barrier or a dam and try to stop them in order to prevent damage to the neighbor’s property.”

[c] Later legal sources (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Robbery, 1:13, Shulchan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat 426:1, Mappah on Hoshen Mishpat 388:11, etc) expand this law to require the revealing of information when a neighbor will experience financial loss as well.  Jewish law makes it clear that every witness to a crime – even one of the criminals – is obligated to come forward and testify. 

Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge”, pgs. 44-45

Used with permission from Joel Grishaver

Hasheket Shenish’ar-Shiri Maimon

הייתי כעיוורת לאור היום
מרוב ההגיון לא נשאר מקום
רועדת לידך והסם שבי עוד לא נגמר
נושמת לי ממך והטעם כבר מר.

המבט אחר והקור חודר
אתה מסתתר, את גופי שובר
המבט אחר והקור חודר
איך עוד יום עובר בלי נשימה.

לילה בא לאט, הזמן נעצר
לילה ואתה השקט שנשאר
רגע אחד נופלת איתך בסוף המשחק.

בערב שוב חומקת מהרחוב
מתוך האפילה מנסה לחשוב עוד קצת עליך
עוברת עוד דקה ארוכה שמרגישה כמו נצח
וריק בלעדיך.

המבט אחר והקור חודר
איך עוד יום עובר בלי נשימה.

לילה בא לאט…

In his book, Jewish Law as Rebellion, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo enlightens us regarding his approach to the “flaws” of Torah and the opportunities with those flaws provide us as individual Jews and us as a Jewish community.

My belief that the Torah is purposely morally flawed is closely related to the idea of halachic loophole,” which Chazal (our Talmudic Sages) and later poskim (decisors of Jewish Law) frequently used to solve halachic problems. (289)

Judaism wants to make the sages and the Jewish community constantly aware that they live in the presence of God, and to accomplish that goal life must be complicated and an ongoing challenge! Only through constant preoccupation with the divine commandments and their minutiae, and only by confronting the obstacles to implementing these commandments, can one be cognizant of God’s presence (319).

Challenges provide us with opportunities to see God in our everyday lives.  That is a very different lens through which we can understand and see the commandments.

How can the concept of mitzvot be meaningful to us today?

One of the great tasks of Jewish education is to deliberately create an atmosphere of rebellion among its students. Rebellion, after all, is the great emancipator. To paraphrase English writer Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832): We owe almost all our knowledge and achievements not to those who agreed but to those who differed. It was this quality that brought Judaism into existence. Avraham was the first great rebel, destroying idols, and he was followed by his children, by Moshe, and by the Jewish people.

…When we tell our children to eat kosher, we need to tell them that this is an act of disobedience against self-indulgence, by which human beings are prepared to eat anything as long as it tastes good. When we go to synagogue, it is a protest against man’s arrogance in thinking that he can do it all himself. When young couples are asked to observe the law of family purity, it is a rebellion against the obsession with sex. The celebration of Shabbat must be taught as an enormous challenge to our contemporary world, which believes that happiness depends on how much we can produce.

…Judaism is in essence an act of dissent, not of consent. Dissent means renewal. It creates loyalty. It is the stuff that world growth is made of. (Needed Redemptive Halakha, by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, “Conversations”, September 2015)

Go forth and be a rebel!

Passover is behind us, spring is upon us and summer is ahead of us. I hope it has been a successful and growth-filled school year.

Looking forward to next year, we will be offering an opportunity to participate in a Jewish learning series, which is a ten-week experiential, conversational seminar for students looking to deepen their understanding of Judaism on their own terms.

Come study with me and other students for ten weeks on Monday evenings from 5:00-6:30pm at the Berman Center for Jewish Education at Shaarey Zedek. The series includes meeting new friends, creating community, dinner and $500 upon successful completion of the program.

Stay tuned for applications! Good luck on finals and have a great summer!