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The Chazon Ish answers: The second traveler is not allowed to steal
the bottle of water. Although a person is allowed to save his own life
with his friend’s money, in this case, halacha has already determined
that “Your life takes precedence,” so stealing the water would be equiv-
alent to taking his friend’s life.
We too, can say that halacha determines that since the bed was
#
bought with public money for the purpose of saving life, it belongs
to the patient with a longer life-expectancy (chayei olam) and it is
therefore forbidden for the patient with chayei sha’ah to steal the bed.
Doing so would not be considered stealing money, but rather stealing
a life.
There was once a girl with tuberculosis whose house collapsed.
It was the rainy season in Poland and, for lack of any other choice,
she invaded the Jewish orphanage and took up residence there. The
director of the institution (my grandfather, Rav Avraham Yaakov
Bulimovsky zt”l) locked the door of her room so that she would not
come into contact with the orphaned girls in his care. He then trav-
eled to the Rebbe of Belz, Rav Yissachar Dov Rokeach, zt”l, to ask his
opinion. Could the ill girl be considered, halachically, as pursuing the
other girls to kill them [from tuberculosis]? If so, since one can save
the lives of the pursued by taking the life of the pursuer (as explained
in Sanhedrin 72a), is he allowed to banish the girl from the orphan-
age? The Rebbe refused to allow this, as banishing the girl would
certainly lead to her death. He advised Rav Bulimovsky to build a
door leading from the room where she was confined to the yard, and
to build a wall around her section of the yard, so that she would not
come into contact with the other girls. That is what he did. The girls
whose room she had invaded squeezed into other rooms, and all the
orphan girls made do with a small section of the yard, all in order to
save one Jewish life. This was despite the fact that she had trespassed
into the orphanage, an act of real theft, and that she had the status of
a “pursuer”.
Now, in regard to the first question about transferring an elderly
patient from an old-age home to a nursing home, it seems to me that
our first concern is to do everything possible to ensure that the pain
148 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
DESECRATING SHABBOS SO
THAT AN EXPERT SURGEON
88 PERFORMS THE SURGERY
1
Question Shabbos desecRation foR a MoRe expeRt suRgeon
A man requires open heart surgery, which can be done by the surgeon
of the healthcare clinic (Kupat Cholim). However, the patient’s family
wants a more expert physician. (They will pay the added expense.)
The expert surgeon can only operate on Shabbos. Is it permissible to
desecrate Shabbos in order to be healed by a better physician?
1
AnsweR
In Tractate Shabbos (128b) it says: One may help a woman give birth
on Shabbos and one may also call a wise woman to come from one
place to another. This Gemara needs explanation. Why does it say
that one may call a “wise woman” instead of a “midwife,” as in the verse
(Shemos 1:15) “the King of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives?”
The Tiferes Yisrael answers this question in his commentary on the
Mishnah (Shabbos, Ch. 18:33). He suggests that the Talmud says “wise
woman” to imply that even if a midwife is already there but there is
an even wiser woman available to help the woman give birth, it is
permissible to call her.
On the other hand, we find in the Shulchan Shlomo (Refuah, Vol. 1,
p. 74, in the name of the Nishmas Avraham, Vol. 5, p. 82) that if a child
needs open heart surgery that can be covered by the healthcare clinic
in Israel, but the family prefers to have it done by a renowned, expert
Shabbos desecration for a more expert surgeon 2 177