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object of your brother’s (Devarim, 22,3). The word kol,
[meaning all, or any, intimates some inclusion and] comes
to include a sinner [i.e. who is also considered “your broth-
er”] in regard to restoring either his lost property or his
failing health; effort must be expended to restore these to
him, as is made clear there (Avodah Zarah ibid 26b, Tosfos
s.v. ani). Tosfos (ibid.) add that we find too in Gittin (47a)
that a sinner must be redeemed from captivity and be lent
money without interest, with the exception of sinners out
of spite who assimilate among the gentiles, whom there is
no obligation to assist. So too rules the Shulchan Aruch
(Choshen Mishpat, 266,2).

From the above it emerges that it is obligatory to heal a sinner, even
one who sins [repeatedly] for gratification.

It appears though, that this only applies to a sinner who is not
enmeshed in sin. If however, promiscuity is a way of life for a woman
Rachmana litzlan [may the Merciful One spare us], and she is also
involved with the world of crime and robbery there is no obligation
to restore her lost object or health for we have learned that“shepherds
of small livestock should not be helped out of a pit.” The question
arises as to why they are treated more stringently than sinners, who
must be saved or redeemed and whose lost property or health must
be restored?

The Rambam (Hilchos Rotzei’ach 4:11-12) provides an answer to
this question, writing,“Shepherds of small livestock and their ilk – if
a person saw one of them fall into the sea he should not take him
out as it says,‘Do not stand idly by the [spilled] blood of your fellow
Jew’ (Vayikra 19:16) and this is not your fellow. To whom does this
apply? To a Jewish sinner who clings to his wickedness and constantly
repeats it, for example shepherds of small livestock who have thrown
off the constraints of stealing, for whom crime is a way of life. How-
ever, a Jew who sins but doesn’t constantly tread the path of wicked-
ness, instead sinning for his own gratification, who for example eats

Refusing to Treat a Sinner 2 247