PEH872
Title
PEH872
Hirsch Summary
If the Sultan were to say to a Jew, "Let a limb be cut off from you, from which you will not die, otherwise I will kill another Jew!" - what is the legal situation? In accordance with Maimonides' Jad Hachazaka and its commentary, Magid Mishna by Don Vidal de Tolosa, Salomo Jessurun decides that saving a person's life supersedes even the Sabbath laws, which are more stringent than voluntary mutilation. He further rules that one must even endanger oneself to save a life, that one who idly watches someone perish transgresses a Torah prohibition (Leviticus, Chapter 19, Verse 16), but one who saves a soul in Israel preserves an entire world.
Volume
12
Local
26
Written Date
1800-06-23
Published Date (est.)
1800-08-22
Rector Short Name
AcohenDan
Rector
Acohen d'Azevedo, Daniel
Files
Collection
Citation
“PEH872,” Pri Ets Haim Amsterdam Responsa, accessed July 6, 2025, https://pehh.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/11439.