Page 286 - EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.1A

Pg: 286 - 9-Back 21-10-31

(Devarim 22:2) which refers to the restoration of his lost property.
Just as there is no obligation to return the property of a person who
has knowingly wasted it, neither is there an obligation to restore life
to a person who has knowingly tried to commit suicide; neither does
the negative command, “Do not stand idly by the [spilled] blood of
your fellowman” apply in such a case.

The Divrei Yissaschar (response,169), the Chelkas Yaakov (1,72)
and other poskim disagree with this view and cite proof that there is an
obligation to save him because attempted suicide cannot be compared
to knowingly allowing one’s property go to waste. A person’s life is
under Heaven’s ownership; he has no rights over his life, entitling him
to destroy it, as the Rambam (Hilchos Rotzei’ach 1,4) and the Radvaz
(Hilchos Sanhedrin 18,6) write. In the sefer Margaliyos Hayam (Sanhe-
drin 73a) there is a citation to from the Maharam Mi’rottenburg (39)
who writes that clearly, even if the person attempting suicide screams,
“Do not save me!” he is ignored.

We find similarly that the Yam Shel Shlomo (Gittin 4, 72) writes
on the one hand that there is no obligation to redeem a person who
steals from gentiles in the knowledge that they sentence thieves to
hanging, because he has brought his fate upon himself. The Radvaz,
(Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 8,13) on the other hand, disagrees with him
and rules that there is an obligation to redeem him.1

The question now arises as to whether or not a person who wants
to save an attempted suicide or redeem a robber is allowed to desecrate
Shabbos to do so, according to the opinions that there is no obligation
to save them? It’s possible that the allowance to desecrate Shabbos is

1. For further discussion of the saving an attempted suicide, see earlier siman 163,
on the topic ‘Is there an Obligation to Save someone who Despises his own
Life?’ and our discussion at the beginning of siman 164. See too further, siman
281, our discussion of the first topic of whether a serious suicide threat consti-
tutes a situation of piku’ach nefesh.
[See sefer, He’aros (Bava Metzia, pg. 113) by my father-in-law Rav Y.S. Elyashiv
zt”l, to whom it is straightforward that it is obligatory to save an attempted
suicide. See his further comments in He’aros (Yoma, pg. 201) in explaining the
incident involving Hillel, which are cited in a footnote in siman 163 ibid.

270 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein