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Hands. This implies that there is a Torah prohibition against killing a
non-Jew. However, the Minchas Chinuch (34) is of the opinion that
the Mechilta’s comments (which are cited by the Kesef Mishnah and
the Minchas Chinuch) namely, that killing a non-Jew is punishable
by Heaven, only apply to a ger toshav [a non-Jew who has renounced
idolatry but has not accepted the entire Torah] and this also seems to
be the view of the Yereiyim. (248)

  The Torah says (Bereishis 9:5),“But the [spilled] blood of your lives
I shall seek… and from the hand of man, from the hand of one person
[against] his brother I shall seek a human life.” Noting this double
expression [“from the hand of man” and“from the hand of one person
[against] his brother”], the author of Hakesav Vehakabalah explains
that there are two types of murder: 1. If the murder is to the victim’s
detriment e.g. as vengeance or to steal his money etc. 2. If it is for the
victim’s benefit, e.g. he is suffering terribly and prefers to die rather
than continue living, as was the case with Avimelech who told the
lad, “unsheath your sword and put me to death” (Shoftim 9:54) and
with Shaul, who told the Amalekite, “Please stand over me and put
me to death” (Shmuel II, 1:9). Scripture addresses both of these situ-
ations: in referring to killing as a way of harming the victim, which
is only practiced by inferior people, it says, ”from the hand of adam
(man),” as the errant members of the generation of the Dispersion are
referred to – “which bnei ha’adam (the sons of man) had built” (Bere-
ishis 11:5)… and [referring to killing which is intended for the victim’s
benefit, it says]“from the hand of ish (a person) [against] his brother,”
referring to the perpetrator as ish, a [distinguished] personage who
is endowed with noble character and may even be one of his victim’s
loved ones and believe that he is doing a mitzvah by killing him in
order to relieve his extreme pain and suffering. The Torah thus warns
both the person who sheds blood out of hatred for his victim and the
one who kills out of his love for him.”

  From his comments it is evident that killing a non-Jew is forbid-
den even when it is being done for the victim’s benefit and with his
consent. It is well known that our holy Torah takes the view that a
person’s life is not his own property, rather it belongs to Hakadosh

Enabling a Non-Jew to Commit Suicide 2                                      447
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