[Avodah] Costa Concordia and halachah

[Rich, Joel]

> Although the captain of the ship is reviled for abandoning ship, had he
> been Jewish would he have been acting properly? Women and children first
> seems to be contradicted by the din that if a man or a woman are drowning,
> we save the male because he is chayav in more mitzvos. The same hierachy
> would seem to apply for an adult female vs child analysis. Unless there
> is a halachik basis for the captain going down with the ship one could
> argue that the din of "v"chai bahem -- chayechah kodmin" would imply
> that if there are insufficient resources (eg lifeboats) its each man for
> himself and that would apply to the captain and crew as well. Once he
> abandoned ship is there a halachik rationale for ordering the captain
> to return to ship?

> Gary J Schreiber MD

A full discussion would take a volume so I will just mention 4 points.

1. The captain (you're assuming Jewish) may have an implied contract based
on the rule of the sea. (BTW is chayecha kodmin a chiyuv or a reshut is
an interesting question as well) Damages would be an interesting question.

2. Chayav in more mitzvot is certainly the traditional interpretation,
but some poskim seem to understand it as doing more mitzvot (so a frum
women would get precedence over a non frum man)

3. a male child will ultimately be chayav in more mitzvot so might
get priority

4. most (if not every) modern poseik says we ignore the horiyot priorities
today - I have not been able to determine if this is due to practicality
or other reasons

KT
Joel Rich