[Avodah] ret: costa concordia - and Specialization

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Apr 02, 2012 at 12:10:35AM -0400, David Wacholder wrote:
:    1. Sabbath Desecration for Pikuach Nefesh classically applies only to
:    the endangered Yisrael, not to the non-Jewish populace...

A word quibble... Calling it "desecration" presumes dechuyah, not huterah.

See Yuma 84b-85b. R Shimon ben Menasyah holds that "'veshameru Venei
Yisrael es haShabbbos' -- ... chalal alav Shabbos achas kedei sheyishmar
shabasos harbei." Admittedly this is the 6th of 7 proposed sources. The
last is Shemuel, who says the source is "vechai bahem" (which isn't
Shabbos specific), and then Rava agrees and procedes The Ohr haChaim on
RBbM's pasuq holds that this derashah is the maqor. Which would imply
holding like RSbM about only saving shomerei Shabbos.

The Tzitz Eliezer (9:17) says that tinoqos shenishbe'u are also to
be saved. R SZ Aurbach remains unsure whether it is muttar midinei
Shabbos to save a TSN on Shabbos.

So, it's not that saving a Yisrael is inherently dokheh Shabbos. It is
future Shabbasos that are dochim.

Except...

There are still the issues of mishum eiva and mipenei darkhei Shalom.

Mishum eivah is not a bedi'eved, a pragmatic way to survive. BM 12a
applies it between father and child; Yuma 12b, to the kohein gadol;
Kesuvos 58b, between husband and wife.

In The Human and Social Factor in Halakhah" ch 8, R' Aharon Lichtenstein
explains that the pursuit of shalom and avoidance of eivah is not
pragmatic, but part of the general rule of imitatio dei. E.g. He quotes
how the Rama used Achitofel's argument from sotah that he could erase
sheim Hashem for the sake of Shalom, and "leshanos mipenei hashalom",
as proofs that the pursuite of shalom is itself a deOraisa that could
outrank others.

So, saving mechalelei Shabbos befarhesia bemeizid and nakhriim is
permitted mishum eivah and mipenei darkhei shalom -- which makes them
no less pemitted, just pemitted for reasons extrinsic to Shabbos.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
micha at aishdas.org        which is seldom fully achieved and easily lost
http://www.aishdas.org   again. Fulfillment lies not in a final goal,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but in an eternal striving for perfection. -RSRH