May one violate the Shabbos for someone who is ill?
Since there are many types of illnesses and ailments we must first
categorize them and then see whether the Shabbos may be violated for
each category.
The first category belongs to the critically ill.
This includes a very large range of cases, beginning with the terminally
ill (Hashem Yishmor) and concluding with injuries of various
degrees that are life threatening.
The Torah says as follows (Vayikra 18:5): 'u'shemartem es
chukosai v'es mishpatai asher ya'ase osum ha'adam v'chai bahem
...'. The gemora in Yumah 85b learns from this
possuk that one is not to surrender one’s life in face or on account
of a mitzvah (unless it involves one of the 3 cardinal sins: idolatry,
adultery and murder).
Shabbos is not one of the cardinal sins and therefore Shabbos must not
stand in the way of saving a Jewish life.
Accordingly, when faced with the choice of either not violating the
Shabbos or saving a person’s life, one must save the person’s life.
I understand this when dealing with an injury,
assault attack etc. How does this relate to ill people?
People lying in the ICU (intensive care unit) are critically ill to the
point that their life is in danger. When treating these patients on
Shabbos, one must not withhold any treatment that could or might have a
positive effect on the patient. Even if the effect of the treatment
would only be apparent after Shabbos, if it stabilizes his condition or
improves it in any way, it must be done.
Does it make a difference whether one violates
an issur d’oraisso or d’rabanan?
Not when treating the critically ill.
May Shabbos be violated in the normal manner
for an ill person?
This is far more problematic, and although we will be”H attempt
to lay down a few basic rules, one is obliged to learn these halachos
thoroughly. As a matter of fact the Shulchan Aruch says the
following:
One who is faced with a life threatening situation has a mitzvah to
violate the Shabbos, and whoever is quick in doing so is praiseworthy,
and one who asks (a Rav) is like a murderer. The Yerushalmi adds
and the one who is asked is disgraceful.
The one who asks is like a murderer because if one is afraid to violate
the Shabbos, when faced with a life threatening situation, before asking
one’s rav whether one is permitted to do certain actions, one will
inevitably endanger that person more than necessary and thus bring about
his demise. In such circumstances one must not ask any questions.
This does not mean that one is exempt from learning the halachos
of how to treat an ill person on Shabbos, because if one is able to do
it in the correct manner, as we will see that there are many details
involved, one is obliged to do so.
The rav who is asked is disgraceful because he should have organized
shiurim in hilchos Shabbos and thus teach his community the
correct manner of action when dealing with pikuach nefesh – life
threatening situations.
If everything may be done in a case of a
pikuach nefesh, what is there to teach (or ask)?
There are many details, as we will see. We must differentiate between
the treating of patients who require immediate medical attention and
others who do not require it immediately, and between direct and
indirect treatment.
The gemora
says the following: Pikuach nefesh is not attended to by gentiles
or children,
rather by the elders of Israel. Who are the “elders of Israel”?
From the Rambam we see that he understood it to mean the sages of
Israel and not merely the adults, as he used the term
âãåìé éùøàì åçëîéäí. The Shulchan
Aruch HaRav 328:13 explains that when the sages attend to pikuach
nefesh it serves as a lesson as to the correct attitude one is to
have when attending to pikuach nefesh and it shows the halacha
l’ma’aseh.
The Beis Yosef understands that it means adults of Israel, i.e.
males who are of bar-mitzvah age. Accordingly he rearranged the
wording of this statement in the Shulchan Aruch and wrote
éùøàì âãåìéí åáðé ãòú, Jewish adults
and of sound mind.
Be”H
we will continue with this in the next shiur.
