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and other Rishonim (see Beis Yosef, Yoreh Deah, 157) rule like Rabbi
Yochanan, while the Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah 5:5) rules
like Resh Lakish. Both opinions are cited as halachah by the Rema
(Yoreh Deah, ibid.1). Thus, according to Rabbi Yochanan it is under-
standable how the men of Yehudah handed Shimshon over to the
Philistines, because the latter had specified him. According to Resh
Lakish (and the Rambam’s ruling) though, it is difficult to under-
stand how they handed Shimshon over.

It should be pointed out in connection with their holy words, in
writing that Shimshon had the law of a rodef (pursuer), that Shim-
shon was the Judge of Yisrael and had done what he did in order to
save Yisrael. How then, could he be considered a rodef?

Moreover, the following incident took place during one of Israel’s
wars. An Israeli plane mistakenly began bombing Israeli divisions,
with no possibility of contacting the pilot to inform him of his error.
The question arose as to whether or not it was permitted to down
the plane in order to prevent a catastrophic loss of Jewish lives.2 We
wrote that this apparently depends on the disagreement among the
poskim as to whether or not an unintentional pursuer is considered
a pursuer. I heard however from my father-in-law Rav Y.S. Elyashiv
zt”l, that possibly even according to those who take the view that an
unintentional pursuer is ordinarily considered a pursuer, in this case
it is nevertheless forbidden to kill the pilot because his claim to safety
is even stronger than that of a minor [who is exempt from mitzvos]
who is pursuing [with intent to kill], since this pilot’s goal is to save
Jewish lives, to which end he is even endangering his own life. He can
therefore not be considered a rodef and it is forbidden to kill him. If
so, this case would seem to be the same – Shimshon had intended to
save Yisrael, so how could they hand him over to the Philistines?

See Tosfos Anshei Shem (Oholos chap. 7) who writes that this in-
cident involving Shimshon serves as the source of Rabbi Yochanan’s
ruling to allow handing over a Jew to gentiles who have specified

2. This topic is discussed at length earlier, in siman 115, ‘Response to Question
Three.’

Handing a Criminal over for Punishment 2 309