[Avodah] Violate Shabbat to Save a Jentile

[Michael Makovi]

> It would seem that darkhei Shalom is either using Shalom as a sheim H',
> or referring to emulating His "oseh shalom".
> R' Micha

I forget where, but I saw someone once who made the point that darkhei
shalom is not to ensure shalom for ourselves (which would be mishum
eiva according to the view that mishum eiva is davka pragmatic), but
rather, it is to create shalom in the world in the same sense that the
Gemara says (where?) the entire purpose of the Torah is to create
shalom. (Of course, mishum eiva could still be either the same as
darkhei shalom, or else decidely not the same.)

> That quote [Ben Azzai and all humans from Adam, etc.] is problematic, as some girsa'os are "miYisrael", some > not. Yes, the latter makes more sense given the reference to Adam.
> R' Micha

I believe it the "to save one life is to save the entire world" pasuk
(actually, it's Gemara not a pasuk) that many say is davka
"mi-Yisrael"; AFAIK, everyone agrees that Ben Azzai holds that the
pasuk "sefer toldat adam" refers to all mankind, Jewish and not.

But as for that Gemara about saving the world, it seems clear, IMHO,
that it must surely mean all mankind and not davka Yisrael. For one,
its proof is that Adam was created singly, and Adam was not created as
a Jew. Now, obviously, one could go with some sort of Kuzari argument
that Adam was a "true" human and the direct spiritual ancestor of the
Jews, whereas gentiles are some sort of spiritual sub-human; I believe
the Artscroll Mishna Sanhedrin in a footnote says something about Jews
inheriting Adam's spiritual mission and therefore we are the only true
descendants of him. But this logic seems forced, IMHO, unless one
prefers mystical sources, and it's much much easier to say, based on
the sources, AFAIK, that Jews are taken out of mankind, made separate
and distinct and unique, in order to serve a mission to the rest of
mankind and elevate them all to where they are to be (see Rav Hirsch
to Shemot 19:6). If so, it means that all of mankind is not
intrinsically fallen from Adam's level, but rather, any blemish of
theirs is an external one, viz. their conduct. But in terms of their
intrinsic selves, all of mankind today is still Adam-ic, and it is the
Jews who are the odd man out.

But let us forget sevara. The fact is that the standard editions of
the mishna, the Yerushalmi's mishna, Tanna debe Eliyahu, and the
Rambam (somewhere in the Yad; I forget where) all say "nefesh achat
m'bnei adam"; only the Bavli's mishna says "nefesh achat m'bnei
Yisrael", and I think it's clear here which girsa ought to win.

Mikha'el Makovi