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answer. In my humble opinion as well, (says the Chelkas
Yaakov) this is so, and I will only add to his words.
There are two possible reasons for his guilt: 1. He did
not wake up his brother when he awoke from his sleep,
2. He did not go back to wake him up later when he had
joined his friends in order to continue the march. The fact
that he told his brother to go to sleep is nothing, since even
without these words, he would have fallen asleep from his
extreme tiredness and weakness from the death march.
Proof of this is that he himself fell asleep as well.
The Chelkas Yaakov goes on to explain himself: The poskim discuss
whether forgetfulness is considered negligence or an accident (oness).
Even if it is called an oness or an unintentional act, the poskim rule
stringently when it comes to killing someone. For a murder, even if
the act was “unintentional close to oness,” the person needs atonement.
But in our case there is much greater room for leniency. In the cases
discussed by the poskim, the person actually caused the death. If King
David had not asked for the showbread (lechem hapanim) the murder
of 400 men in Nov, the city of kohanim, would never have occurred.
In our case, however, had his brother been without him, he would
also have been killed by the murderous Nazis had he not awakened
from his sleep in time. We can only say that he did not fulfill the
mitzvah of “Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow man” and
this, too, by oness. He also says that if we measure by this standard,
no man would be innocent.
The ChelkasYaakov concludes as follows:
The man need not be broken-hearted, for this can only lead to
sadness, and this is an even greater sin, for it harms him and hinders
his avodas Hashem, which requires joy. He can repent in keeping with
the tiny drop of sin that he may have done by telling his brother he
could sleep and he would wake him, although he would have fallen
asleep anyway from tiredness and weakness of the march. (Perhaps
he would not have fallen into such a deep sleep had his brother not
assured him he could nap.)
168 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
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mislead the nurses and cause them to disregard [future calls] and not
to come with the same speed to situations of real pikuach nefesh. One
should not bother them with unessential tasks, so that they should be
available to respond to situations of pikuach nefesh.
Therefore, if the woman saw nothing new in her husband’s situa-
tion, she was not obligated to summon an ambulance.
Dr. Menachem Chaim Breuer,
Medical Director of Maayanei Hayeshuah
Hospital in Bnei Brak
1 AnsweR
Biyur Halachah (328:10, s.v. Verofeh) rules that if a patient says, “I feel
weak in one limb or organ, so please treat me with a medication for
this weakness,” we listen to him because he knows best what he is
feeling. Even if the physician says he needs no medication, we do not
listen to the physician.
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim #618:1) says, in regard to eating
on Yom Kippur, that if the patient says “I must eat today,” then even
if one hundred physicians say he does not need to eat, we listen to
the patient because ‘the heart knows the bitterness of the soul’- i.e. he
knows his own needs best.
Thus the patient is to be believed more than the physician, and so,
if a patient says “This limb or organ feel weak,” then even if the phy-
sician examines him and finds nothing, we rely on what the patient
says. Therefore, one might conclude that every time a person asks for
an ambulance, we are obligated to order one for him. Even if there
have been many false alarms, we are prohibited from assuming that
he does not need the ambulance when he claims he does. When it
comes to pikuach nefesh we pay attention even to the slightest chance
of danger. (Rashi’s commentary (Bereishis 26:8) on the verse “And it
came to pass when he had been there a long time” seem to imply the
same thing.)
In maseches Sanhedrin (42b) it says: If someone is being taken out
to be executed and says “I have something to say for myself ”, one takes
Ordering an ambulance 2 173