[Avodah] train switch conundrum

[Rich, Joel]

    the men on top.

RARR left the question open, but I think he was intentionally leading us to conclude that you can't actively kill one even to save many.

I can think of two possible sevaros:

1- Mi yichyeh umi yamos is in HQBH's hands. The question is therefore more about the person facing the decision than the people who may be saved or killed because of his choice. IOW, the only real issue is choosing to be a killer.

2- Every life is of infinite value. 100 times infinity is no greater than infinity. You can't weigh out lives and compare their infinities.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 

However, in Nefesh Hachayim he posits a mitzvah of hatzalat kol Yisrael. Perhaps (my idea-not seen in any authoritative source) there we might posit a difference of the "tzibbur" being more than the sum of its parts (and perhaps this is why "hilchot milchama" differ-although I always assumed that also came from the power of the king vs. "pure halacha")
KT
Joel Rich
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