Monday, April 28, 2025

Shabbos save life of Goy

Igros Moshe (OC IV #79) Question Can doctor profane Shabbos to save non Jew? Answer The excuse stated in the gemora saying that he can’t do it since violates religious law would not be accepted in America. In fact if he is the only doctor available and he refuses to save the non Jew’s life he will be viewed as a murderer. Therefore if a non Jew comes to him on Shabbos in a life threatening condition he has to deal with him even if it involves violating a Torah law of Shabbos. To avoid treating the non Jew is not only a danger to the non Jew but also to the doctor from the patient’s relatives. Even if he thinks that his own life is not actually threatened, he needs to be concerned with the great hatred (aiva) to Jews this will produce in America from the people and government. It is necessary to understand that according to the way that today that there is a problem of his refusal to save a non Jew’s life producing great hatred even in countries in which there is legally religious freedom. I am astonished at the Mishna Berura (130.8) where the Chofetz Chaim wrote criticizing the doctors who violate Shabbos to save a non Jew’s life that even though not doing it causes aiva it is still considered a deliberate violation of Shabbos. I can certify that in Russia, in small towns where there was only a single physician for an entire district, a Jewish physician who refused to travel to care for a non-Jew on the Sabbath, regardless of his defense that his religion did not allow it, would surely have endangered his life and the lives of other Jews. Even the police would have made no effort to protect him from the wrath of the patient's relatives, who would have claimed that his failure to treat their relative had caused his death. It is obvious to me that the Chofetz Chaim was concerned with this problem, because he appended a footnote to explain that his position that the prohibition of a Jewish physician treating a non-Jew on the Sabbath applies "to the country of India, whose inhabitants are even today true idolaters." Even if there is only a small possibility, nevertheless since this is a matter of life and death (Pikuach nefesh) we are lenient. This is also the view of Chasam Sofer. Today there is a concern the world over especially with the instant widespread publicity through newspapers. There is a real concern that provacatours will magnify the hatred until there is will be massacres. Thus there needs to be concern that today this refusal to treat a non Jew will result in actual danger and therefore treatment is permitted. It has been reported, in the name of the Klausenberger Rebbe, that physicians should not take any fee for treatment rendered on the Sabbath. This ruling is right and proper. Surely, it is forbidden to profit from any Sabbath transgression, and therefore in this case, his entire motivation should be the saving of a human life and the performance of that mitzvah.

1 comment :

  1. the Rav, zt"l, was reputed to have an intereseting answer.
    We save both Jewish and non-Jewish lives but the kavannah is important. When saving a Jew, the doctor must have the intent that it's pikuach nefesh and when it's a gentile, it must be mipnei eivah

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