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zt”l, and he clarified: When the Chikekei Lev expounded that, accord- A group of people (caravan) traveling on the road was met
ing to the Toras Chaim, it is forbidden to open a gentile’s letter because by gentiles who said to them: “Give us one of you and we
of stealing, this is a novel idea. There is a difference of opinion among will kill him. But, if not, we will kill all of you.” Even if
our Sages as to whether or not it is prohibited from the Torah to they would all be killed, they should not hand over [even]
steal from a gentile (see maseches Bava Kamma 113). The final halachic a single Jew. However, if they specify a person, such as
ruling is that it is forbidden from the Torah to steal from a gentile what occurred with Sheva ben Bichri, they should hand
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(Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat #348:2). Adding to that by saying him over rather than be killed. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish
that it is forbidden even to look at a gentile’s letter is a novel idea. said: This only applies to someone like Sheva ben Bichri,
who was liable to the death penalty.
My father-in-law also clarified that the Toras Chaim’s assertion
that reading one’s letter involves stealing only applies if the reader Commenting on the Gemara, the Chazon Ish wrote the following:
of the letter steals the thoughts of the author. In our case, Shimon
did not steal anything from Reuven. Reuven will not suffer much It seems that this does not mean he needs to be liable to
damage from the fact that the administration of the hospital will try the death penalty according to Torah law, because if that
to influence him to remain in Israel (especially since there is pikuach were the case, all of Israel would be obligated to hand him
nefesh involved). The only stealing involved here may be the loss to the over to fulfill the law of the Torah. Rather, even if he is not
hospital abroad. liable to one of the four types of death that a beis din can
Responsa Chikekei Lev (there) concludes that even if one received a mete out… but he rebelled against the government, they
letter from a friend, he is forbidden to reveal the contents of the letter are obligated to hand him over…. But Reish Lakish says
to others. Even if there is no real secret in the letter, it is not a nice that this applies only if the gentiles single out someone
thing to do and may cause damage to the writer. As explained in ma- who is deservant of the death penalty according to them. It
seches Yoma (4b), How do we know that if someone says something then turns out that he was singled out like a rodef, because
to his fellowman, he is not allowed to repeat it until that person says the fact that he is hiding among them will cause them all
”Go and tell it to others?” As it says, “And Hashem spoke to him from to be killed. Although in halachah he is not a rodef since he
the tent of meeting, saying (Vayikra 1:1)”. is trying to save his own life, in any event, they are not all
obligated to sacrifice their lives; since he is the cause, it is
There is a kal vachomer to be learned here. If it is forbidden to
reveal something that someone said without his permission, how permissible to hand him over. But if the gentiles have no
much more so if he wrote things down in a letter, especially if there is real claim against any specific person in the group, but they
have decided on their own to single out one of them, then
something disgraceful or secretive in the letter that could cause him
damage. As Rashi writes on the verse (Melachim II 2:5) “And you also they should all let themselves be killed and not hand over
know what Yoav ben Tzeruyah did to me,”that Yoav ben Tzeruyah one Jew to be killed.
sinned gravely against David by publicizing the letter that David sent Nonetheless, after looking into this case, it seems to us that it would
him about Uriyah. still be prohibited to hand him over to the gentiles because he does
Thus in our case, there is a definite possibility that Shimon would not fall under the category of a rodef. Only if he habitually produces
be forbidden to reveal to the administration of the hospital the con- counterfeit coins are we allowed to hand him over, so that he not en-

252 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Changing details of a medical report 2 281

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